Best Posts in Thread: Real Property Tax (RPT)

Not actual personal experience yet, but I did find 3 bits of interesting info:

1. DAILY STAR: Negros Oriental
   This article states that Dumaguete intends to raise proceeds from the property taxes considerably, apparently after holding off on any value assessment increases for 22 years. Starting 2016, taxes are supposed to be adjusted to "more realistic" levels over a period of 4 years.
   
   
2. PHILIPPINE LAWS, STATUTES AND CODES - CHAN ROBLES VIRTUAL LAW LIBRARY
   This is the revised law that institutes the City of Dumaguete; this law is almost 50 years old, but I didn't find any revision after this one, so it might well be still valid.
   Among others, the law details the tasks of the city's departments. Section 39 details that:
   " Sec. 39. Action in case estate has escaped taxation. — If it shall come to the knowledge of the city assessor that any taxable real estate in the city has escaped listing, it shall be his duty to list and value the same at the time and in the manner provided in the next succeeding section and to charge against the owner thereof the taxes due for the current year and the last preceding one year, and the taxes thus assessed shall be legal and collectible by all the remedies herein provided, and if the failure of the city assessor to assess such taxes at the time when they should have been assessed was due to any fault or negligence on the part of the owner of such property, the penalties shall be added to such back taxes as though they had been assessed."
   
   This text, if indeed still valid, would mean that the law doesn't allow to collect back taxes for more than the current and the previous year, if the property "escaped taxation" other than because of fault or negligence of the owner.
   
   
3. Section 47 of the law stipulates that Dumaguete can levy a (maximum of) 2% property tax on the assessed value.
   
   
4. I forgot where I read it and it might not be accurate or current information, but I saw somewhere that LGU's (local government units) are free to increase property taxation by 1 percentage point (so not 2% of the assessed value but 3% tax). The proceeds of the 1% increase, if applied, will go to the city's educational fund.