A priority bill that seeks to reform the property valuation and tax assessment in the country now awaits President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature following its ratification by both houses of Congress.
House Ways and Means Committee chair and Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said both the Senate and House of Representatives ratified the bicameral conference committee report on House Bill 6558 and Senate Bill 2386, which now bears the title Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVARA).
The measure seeks to support the long-term revenue efforts of the government, improve real property valuation by adopting a market-based Schedule of Market Values (SMV) to be used as basis of local and national real property taxation and reorganize the Finance department’s Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), among others.
Salceda, who crafted the bill in the Lower House, said the measure, once enacted, would also hasten the automation of services provided by local government units, which in turn would enhance the efficiency of tax collection and improve the delivery of public services.
The automation includes the creation of a Real Property Information System which will maintain an up-to-date electronic database of the sale, exchange, mortgage, lease, donation, transfer, and all other real property transactions and declarations in the country.
The measure also aims to implement uniform valuation standards for real property assets to promote transparency and enhance investor confidence. Real property tax includes Special Education Fund, Idle Land Tax, and other special taxes local government units (LGU) may levy under the Local Government Code.
It will also establish the Real Property Valuation Service of the reorganized BLGF of the Department of Finance which will be tasked to “develop, adopt, maintain, and implement uniform valuation standards which shall be used by all appraisers and assessors in the LGUs and other concerned parties in the appraisal or valuation of lands, buildings, machinery and other real properties for taxation and other purposes.”
It also provides that such valuation standards should comply with internationally-accepted valuation norms and principles.
