This paper, authored by Maita Gomez of Action for Economic Reforms, seeks to address the problems and obstacles faced by LGUs in the generation of revenues from their most stable and most substantial source, real property. The focus of the study is on the poor performance in Real Property Taxes (RPT) collection, on acts and practices that abet, enable and constitute partial or complete evasion of these taxes. After the author’s introduction, the objectives, methodology and scope are described. The section on Real Property Taxation by Local Government Units discusses the implementation of basic RPT and Special Education Fund (SEF), the implementation of other taxes on property, and the revenue performance of property taxes.
The author then calls attention to the successes and failures of RPT implementation as regards record keeping and computerization, estimation of the amount of tax due, collection of delinquent RPT, and amnesties and auctions. A discussion on tax evasion and corruption follows, and the author ends with several conclusions and recommendations based on four identified issues.
Read the full text of the paper here. (in .pdf, 44 pp.)