THE National Tax Allotment (NTA) sharing formula shortchanges coastal local government units (LGUs) by excluding their municipal waters from the computation of their shares, Agusan del Norte Rep. Dale Corvera said on Monday.
Corvera, the principal author of House Bill (HB) 3779, wants the Local Government Code amended to include the area of municipal waters in determining NTA shares.
Under the current formula, population accounts for 50 percent of an LGU’s NTA share, while land area and equal sharing each account for 25 percent.
Corvera said the formula, established under the Local Government Code in 1991, focuses on terrestrial land despite the Philippines’ archipelagic character and the responsibilities coastal municipalities assume over their municipal waters.
“There is a big disconnect because the national government only factors in dry land area when computing their financial support to LGUs through the NTA,” Corvera said.
The current formula favors landlocked LGUs because they do not have municipal waters to manage.
Under HB 3779, the 25-percent allocation currently based on land area would instead consider both land area and municipal waters, meaning the proposed change would not require additional national funding.
Corvera said coastal municipalities “do not seek for a larger overall slice of the national budget, but rather fairness in computing their National Tax Allotment (NTA) shares to bridge the resource gap so that all communities have fair chance at local economic growth.”