Mayor: The current city tax code is ‘very cheap’
By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) approved the proposed P3 billion 2020 budget on its third and final reading. The budget is 12 percent higher compared to this year’s P2.53 billion budget with 52 percent of it being funded by local taxes and 48 percent from the city’s internal revenue allotment, or a local government unit’s share of national tax revenue.
City Councilor Cindy Rojas, who chairs the SP Committee on Finance and Appropriations, said the passage is a sign the city is progressing rapidly. However, City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., expressed concern the city will not be able to generate the funds and called on the city government to be stricter in tax collection.
In response, the City Treasurer’s Office acknowledged the matter and affirmed they will find a way to get businesses to pay their taxes properly.
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said one factor that could help next year’s budget is updating the “tax code.” The mayor noted, he received reports claiming the city’s tax code is cheaper compared to other cities in Negros Occidental.
“It is really a very cheap city to deal with, which is also not healthy,” Leonardia pointed out.
He noted, tax responsibilities should be “reasonable and realistic.”
“The alternative is to improve our collection efforts, efficiency, and effectiveness because we can compensate for it,” the mayor added.
Meanwhile, City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe recommended more efficiency in terms of tax collection and said inspections of businesses without permits and delinquent stall owners at city public markets must be conducted, along with collecting real property tax arrears.
Earlier this year, the city’s internal revenue allotment was P1.4 million, which constitutes 45 percent of the total proposed budget./DGB, WDJ