Taguig City gov’t not keen on real property tax hikes

Amid the rising prices of oil and other commodities, residents and companies doing business in Taguig City can breathe a sigh of relief as the taxes they pay for their property in the city will not increase anytime soon.

Aurelio Paulo Bartolome, councilor for the second district of Taguig, said the city council would maintain the fair market values of land in the city, which is among the factors considered when computing for real property taxes.

“We have just updated that some years ago so it may take a while before we make another adjustment,” he explained.

Bartolome said that the fair market values, especially of commercial land in Taguig City, were “either of the same rate or lower” compared with other commercial areas in other cities.

“We want to retain the lower tax rates here in the city as an incentive to encourage businessmen to set up shop or transfer their business here,” he said.

The fair market values of land were last updated in 2008 under Ordinance 113 as the city noted the rapid development of property, especially in the Fort Bonifacio area.

Fair market values for residential and commercial land in the area shot up by 300 to 800 percent under the ordinance, but for much of the city, the council decided to retain 2001 market values.

For example, a square meter of residential land on McKinley Hills is valued at P8,000, compared to P2,500 in 2001.

Meanwhile, commercial land values at the City Center, NCBD, Bonifacio South, E-Square, Crescent Park West, and Bonifacio North were raised to P20,000 per square meter in 2008 from the P6,000 per square meter in 2001.

Residential land values for much of the city remained at P3,000 per square meter at the highest.