The Negros Occidental provincial government will have to cut the amount of financial assistance it gives out next year with the expected drop in its National Tax Allotment, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Tuesday, August 2.
“Definitely there will be adjustments, especially in our financial assistance,” Lacson said.
The governor said he is pushing for the stepping up of the provincial government’s economic enterprises to augment its income next year with the NTA cut.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier informed Lacson that all LGUs will
face 14.47 percent NTA cuts in 2023 because of low tax collections at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Negros Occidental provincial government’s 2023 NTA share will drop by P782,280,808, the DBM had said.
The provincial government earns additional income from economic enterprises such as the lease of its property to Ayala and rentals at the Negros First CyberCentre, Lacson said.
Lacson said he is pushing the provincial government’s economic enterprises to earn revenues, especially the Negros Occidental Food Terminal Market at the North Capitol Road in Bacolod that has yet to begin operations.
“I’d really like them to start that, that’s additional income,” he said.*