Naga close to hitting P720M tax collection target: Chiong
The city government of Naga, Cebu collected more than P503 million in taxes and other sources of income as of July this year.
In her State of Naga Address (SONA) yesterday, City of Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong said they are nearing their yearly target of P720 million.
Based on an annual audit report provided by the Commission on Audit (COA), the City was able to collect P655 million in revenues last year.
Naga, which celebrated its 10th year as a city yesterday, also enjoys an increase in their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share.
From P366 million last year, the City now receives P421.4 million in IRA.
Chiong said she credits the increase to efficent tax collection and the cooperation of the business sector.
Chiong said that with the implementation of the City’s Investment and Incentives Code next year, she plans to provide more incentives to qualified businesses.
“This is to advance and sustain economic and social development and generate job opportunities,” Chiong said.
Apart from the measures they installed for their One-Stop-Shop for business owners, Chiong said she plans to shorten the process of applying and renewing business permits and other documents from five to three processes.
Chiong said that the city’s growth is an opportunity for them to improve the quality of service.
Part of her plan to improve service in the City is to increase the daily wage of job order workers from P340 to P350.
Recognizing the role of the barangay in delivering basic services to the grassroots level, Chiong said that the yearly honorarium for barangay workers worth P19.7 million will continue next year.
In education, Chiong said she plans to expand the City of Naga College Scholarship Program by increasing its yearly allocation from P18 million to P21 million.
By expanding the program, scholars from the City will not only receive a P20,000 subsidy per semester, they will only receive transportation allowance for those enrolled in state universities.
The program, which started in 2011, has 215 college students enrolled in different universities in Cebu.