Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso announced that the city council passed on Wednesday night an ordinance that would cut real estate tax rates in Manila by 40 percent over three years to make collections more efficient.
The Manila chief executive said the tax cut will be implemented in three phases. The first will see a 20-percent tax reduction this year, with another 10 percent added in 2020 and a similar 10 percent cut in 2021.
“It’s already passed, we are just doing the Implementing Rules and Regulations,” the mayor said during a meeting with barangay officials at the Manila City Hall.
Also during the meeting, Domagoso vowed to give the unpaid salaries of 324 Manila government workers who were contracted by the previous city administration.
He said these employees were hired as job-order workers in February 2019 but have yet to receive their salaries.
Business taxes and real property taxes are imposed by local government units under the Local Government Code of 1991 or Republic Act No. 7160.
Manila’s real estate tax was raised by 300 percent under the administration of former Mayor Joseph Estrada to pay the capital’s P5.5-billion debt in 2013.
However, according to the Commission on Audit, Estrada left behind a P4.4-billion debt, as the city was only able to collect P10.5 billion of a possible P14.10-billion tax take during his term.
Domagoso vowed to lower real property and business tax rates by 40 percent during his campaign in the May elections, where he beat Estrada by nearly 140,000 votes.
He said the high tax rates are burdens for families across the nation’s capital.
As for the unpaid workers, Domagoso claimed they were promised jobs at City Hall but refused to say if they were actually hired to campaign for Estrada in the last elections.
“One thing is for sure, I will give them what is due to them. The city government will spend some P1.65 million in the first tranche of reimbursement,” the mayor said.
The amount would vary in succeeding tranches because the duration of their contracts differ, as some were hired for 3 months while others for 5 months, Manila Public Information Office chief Julius Leonen said.