By BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
KALIBO, Aklan — A campaign against the imposition of increased real property tax (RPT) in Aklan was gaining ground, with close to 10,000 people signing the petition to recall the provincial ordinance on the tax hike.
Residents and local officials from Kalibo and New Washington opposed to the tax hike said the ordinance that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) adopted on June 18 was “unfair, excessive, unjustifiable, and oppressive.”
Sangguniang Bayan member Augusto Tolentino of Kalibo said the RPT hike would adversely affect the lives of Aklanons still reeling from the impact of super typhoon “Yolanda.”
Taking effect starting January next year, the ordinance would also put land and business owners at a disadvantage, Tolentino stressed.
Imposing lower assessment levels but higher base-market values, the ordinance may increase the number of tax-delinquent properties and discourage potential investors, he said.
Tax Ordinance No. 001, series of 2014 adjusted the tax assessment levels from 20 percent to 14 percent for residential lands, from 50 percent to 33 percent for industrial and commercial lands, and from 40 percent to 34 percent for agricultural lands.
But even with lower assessment levels, base-market values per square meters drastically increased in all 17 towns.
For instance, a registered land owner of a 1,000-square-meter lot classified as 1st Class in Metro Kalibo will pay a P1,760 tax, based on a P440 base-market value and 20-percent tax assessment level, due this year.
Effective Jan. 1, 2015, however, the lot owner will pay a P4,200 tax — up by P2,440, or 139 percent — based on a 14-percent assessment level and the P1,500 base-market value.
Base-market values for commercial lands in Metro Kalibo also increased to P6,550 for 1st Class; P5,240 for 2nd Class; P3,930 for 3rd Class; and P2,620 for 4th Class.
The increase in tax due for residential lands in Boracay classified as 1st class lots was 139 percent; 2nd Class, 110 percent; and 3rd Class, 97 percent.
Commercial lands in Boracay classified as 1st Class will have a tax increase of 98 percent; 2nd Class, 80 percent; and 3rd Class, 63 percent.
Local government units were mandated by law to conduct a general revision of assessments and property classification every three years.
Aklan has been using the same old schedule of market values in collecting taxes since 2006.
The tax ordinance is formally called “An Ordinance Fixing the Schedule of New Base Market Values of Real Properties for the 17 Municipalities of Aklan for the 2015 General Revision allowed by law to include Special Base Valuation in Boracay Island and Caticlan, both in Malay, Aklan, Barangay Union in Nabas, Aklan, and Metro Kalibo, comprising the barangays of Poblacion, Estancia, Andagao, and New Buswang.”
The Provincial Assessor’s Office, headed by Kokoy Soguilon, prepared the new schedule of base-market values and the corresponding levels of assessment and rates of taxes, before the series of public hearings were held here and Boracay from February to April.
In June, the following SP members signed the tax ordinance: Ramon Gelito, Jose Enrique Miraflores, Nelson Sta. Maria, Lilian Tirol, Plaridel Morania, Emmanuel Soviet Russia dela Cruz, Apolinar Cleope, and Roberto Garcia, Jr.
Harry Sucgang and Rodson Mayor did not sign, while Stephen Bolivar and Esel Flores were on official business at the time. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
