House bill eyes doubling tax on idle land

MANILA, Philippines - Cavite 2nd District Rep. Strike Revilla recently filed House Bill 1683 increasing the ceiling tax on additional ad valorem tax on idle land from five percent to 10 percent.

The proposal seeks to amend Section 236 of the Local Government Code of 1991, he said.

He said the bill would address the continued non-cultivation and non-utilization of land, especially agricultural land, due to the relatively minimal tax burdens on idle land.

Revilla said the country has a total land area of 30 million hectares, generally classified into forest lands and alienable and disposable lands. Forest lands cover a total of 15.8 million hectares while 14.2 million hectares are alienable and disposable lands. Of the 14.2 million hectares alienable and disposable lands, 93 percent or 13 million hectares are classified as agricultural lands.

“Should these large agricultural lands be efficiently utilized, there will be higher agricultural productivity therefore greatly addressing problems in food security,” the lawmaker pointed out.

“Our idle land tax remains largely unutilized by our local government units as a revenue source. Increasing the rate shall provide them more flexibility in its imposition and shall serve as a better source of revenue,” Revilla added.