Former secretaries of the Department of Finance (DOF) and economists support the urgent passage of the remaining packages of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) including package 3 and 4 to fulfill the poverty reduction in the Philippines.

The CTRP is needed to accelerate poverty reduction and to sustainably address inequality, in order to attain the President’s promise of tunay na pagbabago. By making the tax system simpler, fairer, and more efficient, additional – and a more sustainable stream of – revenues will be generated to make meaningful investments in our people and infrastructure, which will help achieve our vision for the Philippines.

Package 3 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program aims to introduce vital reforms to promote the development of a just, equitable, and efficient real property valuation system.

The reforms will broaden the tax base used for property and property-related taxes of the national and local governments, thereby increasing government revenues without increasing the existing tax rates or devising new tax impositions.

Features of Package 3

Package 3 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program proposes to:

Adopt international standards and rationalize the process of valuation.

Establish a single valuation base for taxation, through the adoption of the Schedule of Market Values (SMVs) of LGUs, and use the updated values as benchmark for other purposes, such as lease, rental, acquisition, ROW, etc.

Insulate valuation at the local level from undue politicization. However, LGUs shall continue to set, adjust and regulate tax rates and assessment levels.

Recentralize the approval of the SMVs by the local Sanggunian back to the Secretary of Finance – with review functions of the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), in coordination with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and improve oversight function on property valuation and assessment by the Department of Finance (DOF), through the BLGF.

Establish a comprehensive database to support valuation function.

Establish the Real Property Valuation Service in the BLGF to oversee and manage valuation related concerns of local governments.

Benefits