Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay on Tuesday announced her administration has already met 90.4 percent of its P15.67-billion full-year revenue goal for 2018 after collecting P14.17 billion as of August.
“We are still in the third quarter and yet, we have already attained 90 percent of our full-year revenue target. I am pretty sure we can collect much more than the P1.5 billion remaining balance by yearend,” said Binay.
Last year, the city government met 100 percent of its P14.25 billion revenue goal by collecting P14.26 billion in just 11 months, and in December, the city got a total of P16.97 billion collection, 12 percent higher than the actual collection in 2016.
For this year, Binay attributed their accomplishment to the 3,378 new business registrants recorded by the Business Permit and Licensing Office from January to September 10. She also noted a significant increase in the number of permit renewals with 33,729 posted as of September 10, which topped by more than 900 last year’s total of 32,790 renewals.
“We are very thankful to our new investors for choosing to locate in Makati. We welcome the opportunity you have given us to help your business thrive, knowing that the people of Makati—our beloved Makatizens—stand to benefit directly from your prosperity,” added Binay.
The city chief executive pointed out that with more income earned from tax collections, the city government can continue to invest in highly beneficial and responsive programs on public health, education and social welfare. “By making quality public services freely accessible to everyone, we are turning the oft-repeated phrase ‘inclusive growth’ into a reality,” she said.
The latest report of Acting City Treasurer Jesusa Cuneta showed a seven percent increase in total revenues for eight months, January to August, compared with revenue collection for the same period last year.
During the said period, the city collected almost P7.5 billion in business tax, which is 10 percent higher than last year. From real property tax, earnings reached almost P4.8 billion, or an increase of two percent over last year.
Other local revenue sources in the report included Fees and Charges, P633.3 million, and Economic Enterprise, P170.8 million. From other sources, the city collected P178.3 million in Interest Income; P758.7 million in Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA); P185.5 million in Share from Economic Zone; and almost P3.5 million in share from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Makati is among a few local government units in the country that are not dependent on the IRA.
Since Mayor Binay took office in July 2016, the city government has implemented reforms at City Hall to facilitate business registration and promote transparency, including an aggressive campaign against fixers.
She also ordered the strict monitoring of businesses for compliance with relevant laws, in line with her thrust to restore discipline and respect for the law in the city. The tough stance on errant establishments and violators of the revenue code has resulted in the closure of several establishments over the past two years, reaching 392 as of September 10.
Under her leadership, Makati earned the first-ever ‘unqualified audit opinion’ of the Commission on Audit in the latter’s audit report for the calendar year 2017. It meant that the financial statements of the city government conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and that they fairly represent the city’s financial accounts.
It was also in 2017 that the city posted, for the first time in 12 years, a two-digit increase in revenue collections.