San Pablo folk slam 200% hike in taxes

A proposal by the San Pablo City government to increase real property taxes by an average of 200 percent next year drew protests from taxpayers in the city, who also questioned the timing of the planned tax increase.

In a manifesto, the residents said the planned tax increase is an additional burden to the people of San Pablo and described it as “unreasonable and unfair.”

“The current economic climate will make it impossible for most of the taxpayers to remit payments,” said the manifesto, signed by at least 390 residents.

Under the proposal, taxes on all commercial lands would increase by 176.60. Those for industrial lands would increase by 51.11 percent while residential lots would be taxed higher by 242 percent.

Taxes for lands used for agricultural purposes would also increase. Rice lands would be taxed 141 percent higher, coconut farms would be taxed 197 percent higher and coffee farms would be taxed 11 percent higher.