Delinquent real property taxpayers in Bacolod City will be asked to sign a memorandum of undertaking (MOU) to avail of relief on surcharges and penalties, Councilor Al Victor Espino said Tuesday, August 30.
This was agreed on in a Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government hearing with stakeholders on a proposed “ordinance granting tax relief to delinquent real property taxes in the city of Bacolod”, Espino said.
Espino, who chairs the committee, said the MOU will state that the taxpayers who are granted condonation of the their penalties and surcharges agree to pay the amounts waved if the ordinance granting it is disallowed for not being compliant with national laws.
Should the tax reliefs be disallowed, under the MOU the taxpayers would then be allowed to pay the amounts on a staggered basis, he said.
Espino said his interpretation is the condonation can be granted but the City Legal Office is saying that it may not be allowed.
“So to be on the safe side we will go on with ordinance but we will include a provision for an MOU to be agreed upon by the taxpayers and the city,” Espino said.*