MANDALUYONG CITY’S locally-generated revenue — a measure of its fiscal independence — declined 25.25% in 2017 to P3.90 billion, the sharpest fall among the Metro Manila’s municipalities, the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) said.
In its preliminary Statement of Receipts and Expenditures for 2017, the BLGF said Mandaluyong’s business tax collections declined sharply to P2.20 billion in 2017 from P3.6 billion, which offset a 6.22% gain in real property tax collections to P1.12 billion and a 15% rise in other taxes to P263 million.
The BLGF monitors the financial health of local governments by measuring their ability to generate their own revenue. By law, all local governments are guaranteed a share of national government revenue, providing them a baseline income, though the BLGF, an agency of the Department of Finance, prefers that they maximize their own independent funding capability.
Parañaque City posted the highest growth in locally-generated revenue in 2017 of 33.14% to P4.2 billion. Taguig City posted the biggest increase in total tax revenue at 54.70% while Navotas City, non-tax revenue rose 105.74%.
In terms of locally-generated revenue, the top incomes were posted by Quezon City (P15.2 billion), Makati City (P13.7 billion) and Manila City (P10.4 billion).
The data, which do not have results the cities of Muntinlupa and San Juan, showed a 3.53% gain in locally-generated revenue for the National Capital Region to P77.10 billion. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras
