The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has denied the petition of Bohol Light Company, Inc. (BLCI) to reverse a regional trial court (RTC) ruling that the firm has "no clear and categorical exemption from other local taxes."
Assailed by the BLCI was the March 31, 2016 decision issued by the Tagbilaran City RTC which denied its plea for exemption from local taxes and allowed the city government to collect payments for mayor's permits, franchise taxes, and other fees.
BLCI argued that the RTC "seriously erred" when it declared the company to be held liable for both franchise tax and business tax under the Local Government Code and the revenue code of Tagbilaran City.
However, the CTA affirmed the RTC's ruling as the tax court pointed out the the local government may demand payment of both business tax and franchise tax.
The CTA said that BLCI's petition "must fail in the absence of legal and factual bases," so the city government of Tagbilaran is not prevented from imposing local business taxes in addition to the franchise tax.
The 21-page decision was written by Associate Justice Ma. Belen M. Ringpis-Liban with the concurrence of Associate Justices Maria Rowena Modesto-San Pedro and Corazon G. Ferrer-Flores.