Quezon City Council approves ordinance hiking land valuations

THE Quezon City (QC) Council last night approved a proposal to increase fair market values (FMVs) on real property by 400733.3%, passing the ordinance on third and final reading.

Property owners in Quezon City will have to shoulder an increase in real property taxes due ranging 39-161% next year, as the ordinance goes to Quezon City Mayor Herbert Constantine M. Bautista for signature.

“It’s done,” said Council Ways and Means Committee Chair Allan Benedict S. Reyes, councilor for District 3, in a phone interview with Businessworld, referring to Ordinance No. 20CC-141. “It passed third and final reading and is going before the Mayor for signature,” he added.

Ordinance No. 20CC-141 addresses the 21- year gap since FMVs were last adjusted.

The Department of Finance ( Dof) and the Commission on Audit (Coa) recommended that the city government revise its outdated real property valuation system, citing Republic Act No. 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, which requires adjustments to property values every three years.

“The city assessor shall undertake the general revision of real property assessments... and shall apply the new assessment level of 5% for residential and 14% for commercial and industrial classification, respectively,” according to the amended version of the proposal sent to Businessworld via e-mail.

While staggered payments for RPT due were raised during last week’s second reading, the proposal to mitigate the burden on land owners in Quezon City did materialize.

“Staggered payments and a cap for the first year of payments were raised,” said Mr. Reyes.

The proposal, however, was not added into the mitigating measures the council inserted into the amended ordinance.

But to soften the blow of the RPT hike, the Council decided that there would be a 20% discount for QC property owners who pay before March 31, Mr. Reyes said.

With FMVs rising by 400733.3%, the proposed assessment level for residential areas fell from the original 10% to 5% whereas commercial and industrial areas saw assessment levels falling from 25% to 14%.

This, along with the approval of two separate bills granting annual tax discounts of 10% to senior citizens and 5% to persons with disabilities (PWDs) and solo parents, were among the measures the council set to ease the burden on property owners.

Increases in RPT due are estimated to range from 39%-161%, according to Mr. Reyes, citing the city assessor’s presentation on Monday.

The socialized housing tax (SHT), which imposes an additional 0.5% tax on assessed value of all Quezon City lands that exceed P100,000, will not be increased.

“Residential, commercial or industrial land subdivisions are classified according to the degree or extent of development and facilities,” read the proposal as the unit market value of lots are not supposed to be less than the lands connected to those lots in the main sub-classification.

Low- lying and sunken areas prone to flooding will be granted a reduction of at most 20% of the tax base value per square meter.

Properties occupied by informal settlers will be valued based on the new schedule of FMV but will be taxed based on the 1995 schedule. Informal settlers will also be exempted from paying idle land tax, which is imposed on lands that remain uncultivated or unimproved by the property’s owner. —