MANILA – A measure seeking to intensify local government participation in national development by increasing the share of local government units (LGUs) from national taxes hurdled final reading approval at the House of Representatives.
During Monday's plenary session, a total of 175 lawmakers voted to approve House Bill 10296, which proposes to modify the current formulation of the internal revenue allotment to include all forms of national taxes in its computation.
The goal of the measure is to enable LGUs to provide better services and create more development projects.
It seeks to increase the local government's share of national taxes from 40 percent to 50 percent based on the collection of the third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year and thereafter.
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, one of the authors of the bill, said the proposed amendments would provide more local funds for the implementation of Covid-19 response measures.
“At this time of a prolonged Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, our LGUs need more funds to take care of the health and economic needs of their constituents. The resources of the LGUs are fast drying up because of this pandemic,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the proposed law would reflect the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the Mandanas case which "widened the base amounts" for computing the internal revenue allotment, and can potentially allow LGUs to have more money "for development purposes.
The bill refers to the internal revenue allotment as national tax allotment of local government units. (PNA)
