Ex-assessor urges gov’t: Get tough on realty tax collection
LATE is not ‘better than never’ in the case of land tax payments.
This is the position of Roberto C. Rebodos, a former assessor of Manaoag town, as he advised the provincial government not to be too generous in giving condonations to real estate owners who pay their taxes late.
“It is unfair to those who are paying their taxes on time,” he said during the KBP Forum at the Philippine Information Agency office on Thursday.
“When you condone the penalty you are rewarding the delinquent tax payers. Instead of encouraging obedience to the law, you are encouraging disobedience to the law,” said Rebodos who was the national president of the Municipal Assessors of the Philippines from 1995 to 2005.
He proposed that discounts should instead be given to those who pay in advance or on time.
Rebodos said he had earlier proposed to the provincial government to give a 20 percent discount to landowners who can pay in full a year’s worth of taxes to improve tax collection.
Real property tax became a hot issue in the province in December 2010 when the provincial board approved the implementation of an ordinance updating valuations of lots.
The implementation met complaints when landowners found out that the rates of taxes were raised by 300%.
The provincial government eventually extended the deadline and allowed landowners to pay taxes in staggered basis to allay the public outcry. (PIA-Pangasinan/ARF)
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