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Local Government Code; real property tax; assessment; administrative remedies; payment under protest. Section 252 and section 222 of the Local Government Code sets out the administrative remedies available to a taxpayer or real property owner who does not agree with the assessment of the real property tax sought to be collected. The language of the law is clear and no interpretation is needed. Section 252 emphatically directs that the taxpayer/real property owner questioning the assessment should first pay the tax due before his protest can be entertained. Secondly, within the period prescribed by law, any owner or person having legal interest in the property not satisfied with the action of the provincial, city or municipal assessor in the assessment of his property may file an appeal with the Local Board of Assessment Appeals (LBAA) of the province or city concerned. Thereafter, within thirty days from receipt, he may elevate, by filing a notice of appeal, the adverse decision of the LBAA with the Central Board of Assessment Appeals. Camp John Hay Development Corporation v. Central Board of Assessment Appeals, G.R. No. 169234. October 2, 2013.
Local Government Code; real property tax; assessment; administrative remedies; claim for exemption. A claim for exemption from payment of real property taxes does not actually question the assessor’s authority to assess and collect such taxes, but pertains to the reasonableness or correctness of the assessment by the local assessor, a question of fact which should be resolved, at the very first instance, by the Local Board of Assessment Appeals. This may be inferred from section 206 (Proof of Exemption of Real Property from Taxation) of the Local Government Code. By providing that real property not declared and proved as tax-exempt shall be included in the assessment roll, section 206 implies that the local assessor has the authority to assess the property for realty taxes, and any subsequent claim for exemption shall be allowed only when sufficient proof has been adduced supporting the claim. Therefore, if the property being taxed has not been dripped from the assessment roll, taxes must be paid under protest if the exemption from taxation is insisted upon. Camp John Hay Development Corporation v. Central Board of Assessment Appeals, G.R. No. 169234. October 2, 2013.
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