GIS: A TOOL IN PROMOTING EFFICIENT TAX SYSTEMS

Real property taxes (RPTs) are the most viable revenue source of provinces, cities and municipalities in the Philippines. Real property tax administration (RPTA) involves the formulation, implementation and evaluation of policies on real property ownership, valuation, taxation, and records management. If properly administered, real property taxes can contribute as much as 30 per cent to total city and provincial income. Despite having a clear tax base, RPTs are poorly administered. The problems occur in all stages of RPTA. Specifically, the administration of RPTs is troubled by inaccurate tax maps, inaccurate and incomplete data, poor assessment, low valuation, duplication of records, incomplete payment history, and inefficient reporting of assessment and collection performance. Based on audit reports on local governments’ financial performance from 2002 to 2006, RPT delinquencies, or revenue lost from tax evasion, have increased over the last five years reaching PhP24.7 billion in 2006. This amount is equivalent to 48.1 per cent of the total potential revenue from RPTs nationwide. Inefficiencies continue to manifest despite the growing adoption of Geographic Information System-based (GIS) tax information systems by local government units (LGUs) (NCC 2003).

GIS has the potential to improve every stage of the RPTA process. The literature suggests that GIS adoption and implementation require significant amount of leadership, organizational and management support. Somers (1994) proposed that organizational factors such as the ability to get political and administrative support, including support for sufficient funding and cooperation of staff and end users, must be addressed to ensure the long-term success of a GIS project. She emphasized that any organization adopting GIS should determine the appropriate role of GIS in the organization, and the organization must in turn understand the implications of that role (1998, p. 157). An organization's culture, lack of understanding of GIS, and unpreparedness are also obstacles (Crosswell 1991). As such, managing organizational change is a key issue when implementing new information systems in an organization (Zhao 2002). In fact, Ramasubramanian (1999) says that many factors affecting the successful or failed GIS implementation have little or nothing to do with the technology. Rather, GIS implementation can be hindered by institutional barriers. To ensure success in implementation, Ramasubramanian suggests having clarity in problem definition, forging strategic alliances, adopting incremental planning, and developing local knowledge.