Taxes on real estate—Extension and remission of the tax.
Section 46
SEC. 46. Taxes on real estate—Extension and remission of the tax.—An annual tax, the rate of which shall not exceed two per centum ad valorem, shall be levied by the Municipal Board on the assessed value of all real estate in the city subject to taxation. Until otherwise determined by the Municipal Board, the rate of such tax for the City of Rajah Buayan is hereby fixed at one per centum ad valorem. An existing annual ad valorem tax on real estate shall be subject to change only by ordinance enacted on or before the fifteenth day of December of any year for the next succeeding year. The real estate tax for any year shall be due on the first day of January and becomes payable on or before the thirty-first day of May of each year, and if any taxpayer shall fail to pay the taxes assessed against him on or before the thirty-first day of May of the year for which such taxes are due, he shall be delinquent in such payment and shall be subject to a penalty of seven per centum of the amount of the original tax due, if payment is made during the first and second months of delinquency, and thereafter, to an additional penalty of one per centum for each month or fraction thereof of delinquency, but in no case shall the total penalty on each annual tax exceed twelve per centum of the original tax. The penalty shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as the original tax. At the option of the taxpayer, the tax due for any year may be paid in two installments, the first of such installments to consist of seventy per centum of the annual tax due on the property and the second to consist of the remainder of the tax for the year. In such cases, the first installment shall be paid on or before the thirty-first day of May of the year for which the tax due, and the second shall be paid not later than the thirtieth day of November of the same year, but if the first installment of the tax for any year is not paid on or before the thirty-first day of May of such year, then the whole of the year's tax shall be delinquent and shall be subject to the penalty due thereon as hereinbefore provided. If any taxpayer, having paid the first installment of his tax for any year, shall fail to pay the second installment thereof on or before the thirtieth day of November of the same year, he shall be subject to a penalty of seven per centum of such delinquent installment, if payment is made during the first and second months of delinquency, and thereafter, to an additional penalty of one per centum for each month or fraction thereof of delinquency; but in no case shall the total penalty on such unpaid tax exceed twelve per centum of the amount due. The penalties thus imposed shall be accounted for by the city treasurer in the same manner as the tax. In the event that such tax and penalty shall remain unpaid for ninety days after the tax becomes delinquent the city treasurer shall proceed to make collection thereof in the manner hereinafter prescribed. The words "paid under protest" shall be written on the face of the real estate tax receipt upon the request of any person willing to pay the tax under protest. Confirmation in writing of an oral protest shall be made within thirty days. The Municipal Board may extend the time for the collection of the tax on real estate in the city for a period not to exceed three months. It may also remit all or part of the tax on real estate or the penalties thereon during the ensuing year in case there are good and sufficient reasons for it. The resolution in any such case shall not take effect until it shall have been approved by the President of the Philippines. The President may, in his discretion, extend the time for the collection of the tax on real estate in the city to a date within the same calendar year and may also remit or reduce the tax on real estate during any year if he deems it to be in the public interest.