Poor tax collection leads to P900M in Negros IRA loss

BACOLOD CITY—Negros Occidental will lose at least P900 million in internal revenue allotment (IRA) next year because of poor tax collection three years ago.

Jose Percival Salado Jr., provincial budget officer, said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released a report on IRA shares for next year to allow local governments to adjust their budgets.

He said based on the DBM report, the IRA of Negros Occidental would be lower by P900 million next year from P8.9 billion to P8 billion.

He said the province’s IRA share may increase in succeeding years because of increased tax collection in 2010.

“The food security and infrastructure projects of the provincial government would be among those affected by the cut,” Salado said.

The province’s 13 cities face bigger cuts as a result of the creation of 16 new cities, which the Supreme Court ruled as legal in a third flip-flop on the case that a group of cities had appealed.

The DBM report, said Salado, showed the IRA of 13 Negros Occidental cities dropping to P4.8 billion next year from P5.7 billion this year.

Kabankalan City would suffer the biggest cut at P98.8 million, followed by Cadiz City, P81.6 million and Bacolod City, P77.9 million.