Parañaque tax collection breaches P1-B mark anew

The Parañaque City government said it has collected up to P1.34 billion in business taxes and business fees in 2014, exceeding the previous year’s figure by P301 million.

The 2014 collection reflected a nearly 40-percent increase and marked the second year in a row that the city broke the P1 billion mark, City Hall said in a recent statement.

Melanie Malaya, chief of the local business processing and licensing office (BPLO), attributed the “robust hike” in collection to the city’s “Invest in Parañaque” campaign, wherein her office worked with local business groups, barangays and homeowner’s associations in asking business owners to register their enterprises.

Malaya said the campaign led to a big increase in the number of businesses that registered or renewed their licenses in 2014.

According to BPLO head, the 19,477 registered businesses in 2014—of which 17,122 were renewals and 2,325 were new registrations—reflected an increase of 14 percent from the 17,086 registered firms the year before.

“The increasing number of businesses and investments in Parañaque also reflects growing investor confidence in the city,” she said, noting that Parañaque was named the country’s most competitive city in terms of economic dynamism for 2014.

The recognition was given by the National Competitiveness Council, Department of Trade and Industry, and the United States Agency for International Development.

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez said the development was “a clear affirmation of the soundness” of the city’s policy.

“We don’t need new taxes in Parañaque, we should only enhance tax collection efficiency to sustain and improve our financial position that allows us to deliver basic social and infrastructure services to the people of Parañaque,” he said.

He said he was “confident” that with the local government’s new moves—the streamlining of procedures in the payment of fees and taxes, and the reduction in the number of steps needed to secure business permits, among others—the city should be “able to sustain the trend of increasing tax collections in the coming years .”

He added the city could also “maintain (its) ranking as the Most Competitive City in the country in terms of economic dynamism.” Kristine Felisse Mangunay