The House Committee on Government Reorganization on Wednesday approved Package 3 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program or the Real Property Valuation Reform Bill, a priority measure of the administration of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
In the immediate approval of the bill, the committee chairman and Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith T. Flores cited Rule 10, Section 48 of the lower chamber, which authorizes the committees to dispose of priority measures already filed and approved on third reading in the immediately preceding Congress.
Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo said the newly approved bill was based on the approved version of the last 18th Congress.
The bill, which seeks to institute reforms in real property valuation and assessment and reorganizing the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), is a consolidation of HBs 54, 197, 813, 1276, 2695, 3420, 3436, 3954, 3955, 4094, 4269 and 5241.
Authors of the bills include Reps. Joey Sarte Salceda, Jurdin Jesus Romualdo, Michael Romero, Ph.D., Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr., Deputy Speaker Kristine Singson-Meehan, Jaime Fresnedi, Teodorico Haresco Jr., Paolo Duterte, Edvic Yap, Gus Tambunting, Jocelyn Tulfo and Jonathan Keith Flores.
The bill, which provides for the Package 3 of the CTRP, will now be transmitted to the House Committee on Ways and Means for its tax provision and to the House Committee on Appropriations for its appropriation provision.
The proposal seeks to improve real property valuation for the government by adopting a market-based schedule of market values (SMV) to be used as the basis of local and national real property taxation.
It also seeks to reorganize and strengthen the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF).
The bill requires that the valuation or appraisal of all real property, whether taxable or tax-exempt, shall be based on prevailing market values in the locality where the property is situated in conformity with the valuation standards adopted in the proposal.
The bill mandates the Department of Finance-BLGF to lead and manage the implementation of the proposal.
The bill aims to harmonize the real property valuation for taxation purposes, which releases the Bureau of Internal Revenue from promulgating the Schedule of Zonal Values.
The bill also establishes and maintains valuation standards to govern the valuation of real property in the country. It also provides a comprehensive and up to date electronic database of all real property transactions.
The measure also ensures transparency in real property transactions to protect the public and develop confidence in the work of appraisers and assessors.
Earlier, Salceda said this would enable the local government units to become self-reliant and perform their role as development partners of the national government.
Salceda said the real property valuation reform bill is pro-local government, saying “we expect P30.2 billion estimated revenue for the first year of the implementation for local government units.”
Also, Salceda said Package 3 is also beneficial to the national government as it will address the issues on right of way.
The lawmaker said the government would also save P25.2 billion per year due to elimination of costs for notice, conduct of hearing, and publication of zonal values.
For his part, Salo said one of the most vaunted sources of revenues is real property, which is considered as the most important natural resource and the biggest financial asset.