Annual tax and penalties—Extension and remission of the tax.
Section 38
SEC. 38. Annual tax and penalties—Extension and remission of the tax.—An annual tax of one per centum on the assessed value of all real estate in the city subject to taxation shall be levied by the city treasurer. All taxes on real estate for any year shall be due and payable on the first day of January and from this date such taxes together with all penalties accruing thereto shall constitute a lien on the property subject to such taxation. Such lien shall be superior to all other liens, mortgages or incumbrances of any kind whatsoever; and shall be enforceable against the property whether in the possession of the delinquent or any subsequent owner, and can only be removed by the payment of the tax and penalty. At the option of the taxpayer, the tax for any year may be paid in two installments, to be fixed annually by the Municipal Board on or before the thirty-first day of December of the year prior to the year in which the resolution is to take effect: Provided, That the last day of the first and second installments shall not be after the thirty-first day of May and the thirtieth day of November of each year, respectively. At the expiration of the time for the payment of the land tax without penalty, the taxpayer shall be subject, from the first day of delinquency, to the payment of a penalty at the rate of two per centum for each month of delinquency due on the amount of the original tax due, until the tax shall have been paid in full or until the property shall have been forfeited to the city. In no case shall the total penalty exceed twenty-four per centum of the original tax due. The provisions of this section shall be applied to such delinquencies of land taxes as have taken place on the date of the approval of this Act. In the event that the crop is extensively damaged or that a great lowering of the prices of products is registered, or that a similar disaster extends throughout the Province of Iloilo, the Municipal Board of the city, may by resolution passed before the first day of January of each year, remit wholly or in part the payment of the tax or penalty for the ensuing: year; but such resolution shall have to specify clearly the grounds for such remission and shall not take effect till it shall have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The President of the Philippines may, in his discretion, remit or reduce the land taxes for any year in the City of Iloilo. if he deems this to be in the public interest.