Makati biz tax take up by 12%, Peña reports

ART AND UNDER Creative expression knows no ceiling at the Ayala-Makati Avenue underpass in the Makati City central business district. LYN RILLON

THE CITY government of Makati reported an increase in its business tax collection during the first two months of the year.

Mayor Romulo Peña Jr. said the collection from Jan. 1 to Feb. 29 reached P3,798,449,944.41, reflecting a 12-percent increase from the P3,385,749,338.05 collected during the same period last year.

Peña, the vice mayor who took over City Hall in June 2015 following the suspension of Junjun Binay as mayor due to graft charges, attributed “our excellent performance in revenue collection [to] the improved overall experience of our stakeholders in doing business-related transactions with the city government under Bagong Makati (the new Makati).”

The increase in the business tax collection allowed the city’s total income to reach P7.44 billion, or  9 percent higher than the total revenue generated in the same period in 2015, he said. The P7.44-billion mark was already “more than 50 percent” of the city’s projected income for 2016 at P12.99 billion.

“We are inspired all the more to continue pursuing needed reforms and innovations in the way we serve our partners in the business sector,” the mayor said in a statement. “We sincerely acknowledge their indispensable role in building a sustainable future for the city and its people, and we greatly value their confidence and trust in us.”

Aside from the business tax, the city government’s sources of revenue during the period were as follows: basic real property tax, P2,001,588,574.51;  fees and charges, P325,492,071.95; economic enterprise, P30,887,818.13; interest income, P31,442,856.69; and share from the national government or the Internal Revenue Allotment, P157,336,362. Kristine Felisse Mangunay

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