Makati City reports hike in revenues

Some 1,500 new businesses have driven up Makati City’s revenue collections in the last four months, raising these  by five percent from P7.55 billion in April 2013 to P7.95 billion in the same month this year.

In a report to the Makati government, City Treasurer Nelia Barlis said that new businesses contributed around P5.5 million in business taxes for a total of P4.04 billion in the first four months of the year.

For the same period, income from real property taxes totaled P3.16 billion, eight percent higher than last year’s P2.93 billion.

In a statement, Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. expressed confidence that the city would be able to surpass its target revenues for the year, something it has done in the past two decades.

“We remain firm in our commitment to sustaining a healthy investment climate in Makati and building its competitive advantage through constant innovation, making full use of modern technology,” Binay said.

In her report, Barlis noted an increase in the number of banks, hotels, restaurants and importers that secured business permits from city hall.

Meanwhile, other locally sourced revenue for the city also went up, with P388.5 million collected from miscellaneous fees and P84.4 million from economic enterprises.

Makati is among the few local government units in the country that do not rely on their share of the Internal Revenue Allotment. Niña P. Calleja