LAND TAX SPIKES: Abono will go to court or dialogue with prov’l officials

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

ROSALES- The Abono Party-list is planning either to go to court or to dialogue with the provincial officials to stop the implementation of the scandalous increases of the Real Property Tax (RPT) in Pangasinan.    

Abono chair Rosendo So said these are the two options that the group are planning after dialogues held with businessmen and farmers.

“ Ang RPT kasi  malaki talaga. Umabot iyung iba ng 500% increase. Iyon ang isang ni re-review natin,” he said.

Farmers told him that RPT for a hectare of agricultural land skyrocketed from P1000 to P4000 this year, while house and lots were levied P8000 this year from the P2000 last year.

“Nag-meeting naman tayo sa mga businessmen sa Eastern Pangasinan Filipino-Chamber of Commerce. Nag salita rin ang mga businessmen na opposing iyung increase property ng isa. Dati nagbabayand siya ng P38, 000 ngayon sinisingil siya ng P180, 000. So malaki talaga,” he said.

At the height of the protests by some quarters last year that the ordinance on the land tax was railroaded by the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, So said the provincial government should have undergone a massive consultation first in different municipalities.

He said that amid the howl raised by the tax payers, the municipal assessors deflect the complaints by pointing instead to the province.

“Kawawa naman ang mga board members saka iyung governor natin. Kasi sila ang nag –approve e, Dapat sa tingin ko e-review nila,”So said.

Meanwhile, an expert in RPT said if a taxpayer in a town pays a P10 thousand for his land every year, he would be paying P30,000 if the valuation of his land is 300%.

“But that would become P60,000 as the same tax payer is obliged to pay another one percent of the valuation of his real property for the Special Education Fund,” he explained.

According to Section 221 of the Local Government Code or Republic Act 7160, all assessments or reassessments made after the first day of January of any year shall take effect on the first day of January of the succeeding year.

After it was passed unanimously by the members of Sanggunian, the new land tax in Pangasinan was signed into law in December 10, 2010 by Governor Amado T. Espino thus its implementation this year.