DAVAO CITY, Philippines – With almost P5 billion in collection since the start of the year, the figure could well be the city’s biggest revenue collection in the City Treasure’s Office’s (CTO) history.
Bella Linda Tanjil of the CTO disclosed the summary collection as of June 27 to have already totaled to a whopping P4,866,511,586.78. Sixty-two percent of this amount was the tax collected in the second quarter.
The collection for the first semester alone already covered more than half of 2017’s overall collection reaching P7,182,429,721.87 and 2016’s revenues of P6,284,215,375.24.
Tanjil said the increase in city revenue could be credited to the increased awareness of taxpayers in their quarterly responsibilities as well as the efficiency of other departments in imposing fines against violators and offenders of the city’s laws and regulations.
Tanjil told the media that remaining collectibles of tax was only 38 percent and unlike the previous years, the office has been receiving greater cooperation from the citizens, particularly the business sector in the city.
Of the collections of the first half of this year, 67 percent was contributed by real property tax and business tax from industries identified by the CTO as ”great influencers” in the Davao City’s economic rise.
Tanjil also disclosed of confiscations of substandardized vending equipment such as malfunctioning weighing scales commonly spotted in public markets.
“We conduct regular inspections in market places but when people see us, they (vendors) hide their old scales and show us the calibrated ones,” Tanjil said.
The CTO said it would continue its crackdown on cheat scales in market places.(davaotoday.com)
