The Quezon City government has relaxed its policy on the payment of current business taxes by allowing the settlement of tax delinquencies over the past years through a staggered 12 months installment.
City treasurer Edgar Villanueva, in an exclusive interview, said Mayor Joy Belmonte and city administrator Michael Alimurung have come up with the idea to ease the burden on taxpayers by setting aside stringent rule prohibiting acceptance of business taxes without the full payment of tax arrears.
The city council backed the mayor’s position, he said, adding “I was consulted by the mayor about it.”
“I just followed orders from them. Before, a delinquent taxpayer was not allowed to settle current taxes if he or she would not pay the back taxes,” Villanueva told the Manila Standard.
Because of the old policy, the city government, not the delinquent taxpayers, is at the losing end, he lamented.
“I realized that tax collection is an art,” he stressed.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the city government’s tax leniency has brought about the generation of P390 million in back taxes from delinquent business owners, he said.
“Compared to last year of the same period, we have higher revenues,” he cited.
He said he was expecting a half-billion-peso revenue collection from back taxes.