TUBA, Benguet – The municipal government recently embarked on the computerization of its tax collection to improve its revenue generating activities that could be used to implement more development projects and enhance the delivery of basic services to its constituents.
Mayor Ignacio Rivera said the computerization of the municipal assessor’s office, municipal treasury office, and municipal civil registry office will not only improve the local government’s tax collection efforts but also provide efficient and effective assessment services to the taxpayers in the municipality.
“We have to sustain the status of Tuba as a first-class municipality so we have to have programs for the efficient and effective collection of taxes without even increasing the levels of assessment of the municipality,” Rivera stressed.
The local chief executive said the initial results of the computerization of the revenue generating offices of the municipality will serve as their basis in working out the computerization of all other offices of the local government to facilitate the effective and efficient delivery of services and help move the municipality to greater heights.
According to him, there is a need for the local government to adapt the current trend of advanced information and communication technology to help in enhancing the delivery of basic services to the people without sacrificing the quality of the service.
Mayor Rivera underscored improved tax collection through the introduction of state-of-the-art equipment will significantly increase the internally generated resources of the municipality while proposals to update the town’s revenue code is still being studied by the local legislative body.
Rivera added even the issuance and assessment of applications for business permits are subject to computerization pursuant to the government’s electronic business permit and licensing system (EBPLS) to ensure the immediate issuance of business permits to applicants to guarantee efficient processing of permits.
He said the offices which will be computerized will be inter-connected to facilitate the proper monitoring of transactions undertaken and for purposes of cross-checking to make sure that the actual data will tally with the collections of the treasury office.
He said the local government was able to commission the services of an information and communication technology expert that computerized the said offices so that the local government will not be left out in the benefits of advanced technology which allows the municipality to simply update the software and the system in the future.
Rivera urged the transacting public to bring to his attention observations and recommendations relative to the computerized tax assessment and tax collection system so that he could work out improvements on their services to the people.
By HENT