City sees 20-45% increase in tax collection with computerization
City Mayor Jerry Treñas projected a 20 to 45 percent increase in tax collection in the first quarter of 2008 with the full computerization program of the City Treasurer's Office. The projected increase is based on the experiences of some cities that have already adopted the computerization program.
Treñas said the city government will become more efficient in its tax collection with the computerization program. The same program will help the city in its tax mapping and in the valuation of real properties. The computation of the Real Property Tax (RPT) would be done by the computers unlike before that it is done manually.
The computerization program of the city government is made with the help of the World Bank. The computerization costs P14.8 million. A contractor already got the contract though its name is under wraps at the Iloilo City Hall.
With the computerization program, the city government will hire 20 to 50 encoders to input the data of all business establishments registered in the city and their corresponding payable taxes. The city will hire people who knows the proper job in encoding the data, said Treñas.
Meanwhile, the processing of business permits at the city hall is made easy with the streamlining program. A one-stop shop is made. There are representatives from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Iloilo City Fire Service Unit and other related agencies that has concerns over the processing of business permits.
The chief executive said the one-stop-shop policy in processing the business permits is a great help for the business establishments. Every year, the city government through its Licensing Division process permit applications of about 10,000 establishments.
Business establishments that fail to meet the requirements set by the city fire are given 60 days to comply. They are only given conditional permit until they have complied with the requirements, said Treñas.