The Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan is drafting an ordinance that will condone interest and penalties on real property tax (RPT) amounting to P2.8 billion amid the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer said today, January 26.
The SP Committee on Finance met this morning to discuss the proposed ordinance “condoning or reducing real property tax and interest of property owners”.
“This is a campaign to collect taxes and a way of giving tax relief,” Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
The uncollected RPT obligations in Negros Occidental as of November 2020 were P2.8 billion, plus those properties up for auction sale, Diaz said.
Ferrer, who was at the meeting, said “you cannot condone the principal amount, but you can do so for penalties and interest.”
The ordinance is expected to take effect next year, he said.
Diaz said several landowners have been requesting the provincial government, through Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, for tax relief.
The SP Committee on the Finance deliberated on what the ordinance should contain this morning, he said.
“We noted all of the suggestions from the floor and we will now try to put them in writing, find all the legal basis, and fine tune the mechanics of the tax relief,” Diaz said.
Local chief executives will then be informed of it so their treasurers and assessors can also give their comments, he added.
It is being proposed that those who have RPT delinquencies as of Dec. 31, 2020 will be given the chance to enter compromise agreements with the Provincial Treasurer’s Office. Upon entering into compromise agreements the landowners must pay 20 percent of their delinquency, with the remaining 80 percent to be paid in 24 months or two years, he said.
The 80 percent can be paid monthly or quarterly depending on the restructured plan, he added.
During the two-year period, no interest will be added to the amount contained in the compromise agreement, but the landowner will have to pay current tax, he said.
Under the proposed ordinance a landowner can also redeem his property already up for auction, Diaz said.
A landowner can redeem the property based on the auction price set, under the same compromise agreement, he said.
No payment will invalidate the compromise agreement and we will resort to remedies under the Local Government Code, Diaz added.
This, however, is all up to the approval of the SP, he said.
“This is a tax relief given the fact that we are under a state of calamity as declared by President Rodrigo Duterte,” Diaz said.*