General Santos City Councilor Franklin Gacal Jr. (File photo courtesy of the city council)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The city government has extended the implementation until yearend of its tax relief measures for business and real property owners in the wake of the continuing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
City Councilor Franklin Gacal Jr., chair of the city council’s finance committee, said Monday the 50-percent discount for the payment of business and real property taxes will remain in effect until Dec. 31 this year.
He said City Mayor Ronnel Rivera has already endorsed the amendment passed by the council regarding the tax relief, which initially ended on Dec. 31 last year.
Gacal said the extension aimed to allow residents, especially the business sector, cope with the impact of the pandemic.
He said it will mainly benefit the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that were hit hard by the series of lockdowns last year due to Covid-19.
“This will help ease the burden of our businesses as they continue to rebuild and recover from their losses,” he told reporters.
Since last year, the city’s business permits and licensing division has reported a total of 347 MSME owners who admitted they can no longer continue with their operations and decided to just “retire.”
A total of 10,410 businesses have renewed their permits with the city government as of the end of March, slightly down from the 11,225 in 2020.
The city council passed an ordinance in June last year to provide the tax relief as part of the local government’s Covid-19 recovery measures.
Aside from the 50-percent tax discounts, the measure also provided for the condonation of penalties on accumulated real property tax delinquencies in 2018 and 2019.
It also set the implementation of a moratorium for at least six months on the payment of rental for public market stalls. (PNA)
