Warrants of levy are being readied against delinquent real property taxpayers in Dumaguete City who, despite several notices, have failed to pay the government, officer-in-charge Cristina Merced of the City Treasurer's Office said yesterday.

Merced said only 30 of the first 50 delinquent real property taxpayers given notices have settled their accounts at City Hall. Failure to comply after the last notice, will mean a waiver on the part of the taxpayer, and an auction sale of the property will be enforced.

The city expects to collect P5 million from the first set of delinquent real properties, Merced said, adding that more notices of tax delinquency will be published, followed by warrants of levy.

Merced said the city is eyeing amendments to the local tax code of 1997. The outdated code pegs the real property taxes in the poblacion areas at a very minimal level, she pointed out.

Meanwhile, unless all municipal treasurers have the guts to collect taxes from influential persons, including politicians, the province will not be able to hit its yearly target collection on real property tax, provincial treasurer Danilo Mendez said.

He said that last year, only P70 million was collected from real property tax, or about 70 percent of the P92 million target collection.

Mendez said some treasurers may have been hesitant to insist in collecting real property taxes from influential taxpayers.

“It's really difficult to achieve a 100 percent collection of real property tax,” Mendez said, adding that some treasurers do not want to antagonize certain taxpayers, specially those in political power.

He assured, though, that his office has been instituting measures to encourage municipal treasurers to improve their collection by providing them with receipts and cash allowances.

Mendez said there are municipalities that achieved a 100 percent collection efficiency, like Manjuyod, Sibulan and Bacong.*JG/RA

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