Despite taxing power, local cities still rely heavily on IRA for funds

The Local Government Code of the Philippines has given autonomous powers to municipalities, cities and provinces to govern themselves and generate income without the intervention of the national government. With this, each local government can track its development growth on its own.

However, the Department of Finance said that on average, only 30 percent of cities' regular income come from local taxes and the rest still come from internal revenue allotments (IRA). In short, despite the autonomous status of LGUs, expecially cities, still heavily rely on national government doleouts.

Among the young cities, San Juan City (7 years of cityhood) takes home the top spot for generating the most income from local taxes at 76 percent of local income to regular income.

Makati City is the top mature city (19 years) with the highest share of local income to regular income at 92.6 percent.

Here are the numbers that would give the picture how your cities generate income for basic services:

• 144 - total number of cities in the Philippines
• 115 - number of cities with more than 10 years of cityhood
• 74 - cities whose local income is less than 30 percent of their regular income, regardless of years of cityhood
• 57 - cities whose local income is less than 30 percent of their regular income, despite more than 10 years since cityhoo
• 3.1 percent - lowest share of local income to regular income of a young city (Guinhulngan, 7 years of cityhood)
• 3.5 percent - lowest share of local income to regular income of mature city (Sipalay, 13 yearsof cityhood)

You want to see how your city generate income? Here is the list:





source:  InterAksyon