Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III pushed for the enactment of a bill to reform the country’s outdated real property valuation system to bring in more investments, invigorate the property market and generate additional revenues for local government units.
Dominguez said in a statement Tuesday his department supported Senate Bill No. 44 filed by Senator Panfilo Lacson and its counterparts, House Bill No. 2207 introduced by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and HB No. 68 by Albay Second District Rep. Joey Salceda.
Dominguez said the fundamental valuation reforms being pushed by the government in the real property sector were outlined in both measures.
Dominguez said in separate letters to Lacson, Salceda, and Arroyo that they could count on the Finance Department’s full support behind their bills’ immediate enactment in Congress even as the DOF suggested several enhancement measures to their proposals to further strengthen the real property valuation and taxation system.
“Essentially, real estate is the most valuable asset and biggest financial resource. But its contribution to government revenues, particularly for local governments, has remained dismal due to outdated Schedule of Market Values, poor collection efficiency and tax administration and lack of uniformity in the valuation of real property,” Dominguez said.
He said an “equitable, efficient and transparent valuation system has become even more urgent and necessary to stimulate the property market, attract investments, improve government’s resource mobilization through property taxation and foster greater confidence in the real estate sector.” The proposed reforms in the Salceda, Arroyo and Lacson bills aim to adopt international standards in real property valuation and strengthen local autonomy by “setting up a single valuation base for
taxation and benchmarking purposes, insulating the valuation process from politics as LGUs will continue to regulate tax rates and assessment levels, improving the oversight functions of the national government, and establishing an electronic database to support valuation.”
Among the enhancements proposed by Dominguez to SB 44, HB 2207 and HB 68 are the establishment of a Real Property Valuation Service within the Bureau of Local Government Finance, an attached agency of the DOF.
Dominguez also proposed the inclusion of a provision designating counterpart BLGF personnel in the RPVS in the bureau’s regional offices.