Independent senatorial candidate Ping Lacson wants additional incentives for local government units (LGUs) to improve their local tax collection while giving more opportunities for local businesses to grow.
Lacson, who spoke at the flag-raising ceremony of the Quezon City government recently, also said this should go hand in hand with good governance and fighting corruption.
“I am considering including in my priority legislation the adding of incentives for local governments like Quezon City, so they will be motivated further to facilitate businesses and make things easier for small entrepreneurs, while further improving tax collection,” he said in Filipino.
“One possible way to do this is to appropriate an amount in the national budget for an LGU’s local development plans.”
Lacson said one possible way to do this is to appropriate an amount in the national budget for an LGU’s local development plans, based on its contribution to the national tax collection.
The added appropriation for the LGU’s local development plans will allow it to further spur economic development through infrastructure development and livelihood programs, he said.
In the case of Quezon City, Lacson noted its Gross Domestic Product for 2023 was at P1.27 trillion, and the city government’s collections from Value-Added Tax may amount to P152 billion.
He said that if the added appropriations in the budget would amount to even only one percent of the city’s VAT collection, this would easily reach P1.5 billion for its local development plans.
“The LGUs would be motivated to establish more services and businesses.”
“The LGUs would be motivated to establish more services and businesses,” Lacson pointed out.
“Of course the appropriation will vary for each LGU but we need to incentivize. This is not new to me because I have always been a strong advocate of LGU empowerment through the national budget,” he added.
Lacson noted only 20 to 25 percent of local development plans proposed by LGUs are given appropriations from the regular budget of the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Even the LGUs’ 40-percent share from the automatically appropriated internal revenue allotment (IRA) is not compliant with provisions of existing laws, he added.
Yet, Lacson noted despite the small appropriations they get, the LGUs form the backbone of our economy.
Meanwhile, he also stressed the importance of fighting corruption on the part of LGUs.
Lacson lauded Vice Mayor Gian Sotto for informing him that his and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte’s battlecry for the city is anti-corruption – which aligns with his principles.
“The guiding principle my parents gave me, which I have stood by especially since I became a public servant: What is right must be kept right, what is wrong must be set right,” he stressed.
