TELECOM firms operating in Cebu City will receive their tax bills soon.
City Treasurer Emma Villarete said she “already has a figure in mind” but has to confer with Mayor Michael Rama and City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete on the matter.
Rama directed Villarete and Poblete to review the tax dues of telecom companies so they can be assessed their taxes.
Mobile phone service providers Globe, Smart and Digitel used to have a compromise agreement with the city for each to pay P20 million per year in franchise taxes but the agreement lapsed in March 2012.
In a press conference yesterday, Rama said officials of the telecom companies have been sending him text message to assure their willingness to settle their tax dues.
“They are not objecting to the idea… They just wish to be assured that everything they pay will go to the city’s coffers,” he said.
Aside from collecting the tax dues of telecom firms, Villarete said the treasurer’s office is working to dispose of forfeited real properties.
She plans to publish nationally the list of properties that Cebu City is offering for auction so that delinquent owners are notified in case they want to redeem their properties.
A proposed City Ordinance would require an owner of real property to buy back from the city government forfeited property over unpaid taxes – if the property has not yet been sold in a public auction.
The proposed ordinance according to Councilor Jose Daluz III would discourage real property owners from reneging on their obligation to the city.
Forfeited properties that have remained “idle” and “unproductive” have to be sold, he added to raise needed revenues.
Daluz’s draft is pending before the council’s laws committee for review.
While the City Council decides on the proposed disposal of forfeited real properties, the City Treasurers Office is also reviewing the books of accounts of telecom companies operating in the city to determine the exact amount of real property, business and franchise taxes they have to pay.