LGUs urged to enforce tax on idle land to hike revenues
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima has called on local governments to implement idle land tax to increase revenues and agricultural production.
Purisima said the Department of Finance (DOF) was working with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to re-assess on how to effectively implement idle land tax.
“In 1970, there was actually an idle land tax that is why I am trying to take this opportunity to revive this idea and to urge local government to implement the idle land tax,” he said.
Purisima said that there were lands in the country that were not used for production purposes and remained idle because owners waited for their value to appreciate.
He said that since most local governments in the country rely on their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) to fund their programs and projects, implementation of idle land tax should be maximized to boost revenues.
“Of course, we’ll continue to give them their Internal Revenue Allotment but we would like them to do their part,” he said.
The government is pursuing a program to increase agricultural production to enable the domestic economy to be self-sufficient.
Part of this is the initial allocation of P50 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines, for the food supply chain.
Infrastructure related to food supply is also among the major projects in the government’s public-private partnership initiative to be launched on November 18 and 19.
“It’s just sad because there’s really so much opportunity to involve agricultural production in our country and when you look around, there’s so much land that’s not being cultivated. More than raising money, I think it’s really increasing agricultural production,” he said.
Purisima said it was the responsibility of local governments “to make sure they do everything within their power not only to raise revenues but also to increase agricultural productivity within their own area.”
“We at DoF will sit down with the DILG, the DA, the DENR and really work out a process so that we can encourage people to utilize their land,” he said.* PNA
