LEGAZPI
CITY: Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, PDP Laban president, said he filed
Senate Bill 2987 which he called the “Bigger Pie, Bigger Slice Bill” which aims
to amend Section 284 of the Local Government Code of 1991 on two important
aspects.
Firstly,
Pimentel said he wants a “bigger pie” on which the internal revenue allocations
of local government units (LGUs) are computed by widening the tax base.
Secondly,
LGUs must have a “bigger slice” from that “bigger pie” vis-à-vis the national
government.
“Currently
the LGUs’ IRA (internal revenue allocation) is based on the national internal
revenue taxes’ collected by the BIR,” said Pimentel.
“But the
Constitution states that LGUs shall have a just share, as determined by law, in
the national taxes which shall automatically be released to them,” he added.
In an
emailed statement yesterday, Pimentel rallied support for his bill which seeks
to provide LGUs a share from all the taxes and revenues collected by the entire
national government.
Pimentel
lamented that LGUs get only a share of the taxes collected by the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) even if the Constitution itself states that LGUs must
have a share “in the national taxes.”
The senator
said his bill seeks to amend the phrase “national internal revenue taxes” into
“national taxes” which refers to all taxes collected by the national
government, including those from the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine Ports
Authority, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of
Foreign Affairs, among others.
“The ‘bigger
slice’ refers to the sharing between the national government and LGUs.
Currently, the sharing is 60% to 40% in favor of the central or national
government,” he said.
“Under my
proposal, the sharing would be hating kapatid, 50-50, between the national
government and the local governments.”
If his bill
is passed into law, Pimentel said Parañaque’s share in the national taxes or
SNT (it shall no longer be called IRA) would be P823,236,813 compared to the
city’s 2012 IRA share of P646,021,093 – an increase of P177,215,720.
“The
benefits of the increased LGU share in the national taxes or SNT would also be
extended all the way down to the barangays,” Pimentel said. – Bicol Mail
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