Makati City Mayor Abby Binay yesterday expressed confidence the city will exceed its 2018 revenue target as it collected P12.09 billion in the first half of the year. The amount represented 77 percent of the full-year target.

“We are optimistic that we will surpass our revenue target for 2018 and collect more than the 23 percent balance for the remainder of the year,” said Binay.

“We thank our dutiful taxpayers for fulfilling their part in city-building by promptly paying the correct taxes,” she added.

The mayor also welcomed some 2,321 new businesses that were issued permits by the city from January to June of this year.

“We thank you for choosing Makati to invest in and set up your business ventures. You can rest assured that the city government is doing everything in its power to sustain a conducive environment for your businesses to prosper,” the mayor said.

Based on the latest report of Acting City Treasurer Jesusa Cuneta, there was a nine percent increase in total revenues compared to the same period last year.

The highest collection came from business tax with P6.17 billion, which topped last year’s figure by 12 percent.

Real property tax came in second with P4.4 billion, or a 5.5 percent increase over last year.

Other local revenue sources for the said period included miscellaneous fees with P541.87 million and economic enterprises-related payments with P121.34 million.

Revenue collected from other sources included interest income (P134.82 million), internal revenue allotment or IRA (P569.04 million), share from economic zone or PEZA (P138.35 million) and share from PAGCOR/PCSO (P3.48 million).

The treasurer’s report also showed that as of end-June, the city has attained 71 percent of its target for business tax and 96 percent of its target for real property tax.

Makati remains one of a few local government units in the country not dependent on the IRA.

It has reported a total of 33,541 business permit renewals during the first six months of the year.

Recently, the Commission on Audit (CoA) rendered an ‘unqualified opinion’ in its Annual Audit Report for the City of Makati for calendar year 2017 — a first for the city.

Based on a summary published in the official website of CoA dating back to 2007, Makati had received its “qualified opinion” in 2007 and from 2010 up to 2016.

In auditing parlance, an unqualified opinion means that financial statements conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and that they fairly represent the entity’s financial accounts.

In 2017, the city posted a two-digit increase in revenue collections for the first time in 12 years.

Its gross revenue collections reached P16.97 billion or 116 percent of its full-year target and 12 percent more than the 2016 collections. JHD

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