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LOCAL government units (LGUs) will get a lion’s
share in the collection of national taxes under the federal system
of government, Senate Minority Floor leader Aquilino Pimentel said
Saturday.
As provided for in Joint Resolution
10, which calls for the adoption of a federal system, all revenues
and taxes collected by the LGUs or by the national government
shall be divided in the following manner: 20 percent shall accrue to
the federal government and 80 percent to the federal states, thus
boosting thea shares of LGUs by as much as 30 percent.
The Local Government Code of 1991
states that of the share accruing to the states, 30 percent shall go
to the state concerned and 70 percent shall be apportioned among the
provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays.
Pimentel, the principal author of
Joint Resolution 10, explained that the shares of LGUs defined under
the Code will be bigger under the proposal because the funds to be
apportioned shall include all revenues and taxes imposed or
collected by the federal government.
“That means that monies like
customs duties and the collections of seaports will now be
included in the revenues to be divided among the federal government,
the states and the provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays,”
he said.
Under the present system,
Pimentel pointed out that “only taxes as taxes strictly construed
are subjected to division between the central government and LGUs.”
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