Posted on 11 Aug 2008
Mayor Lawrence Cruz told reporters at the recent
inauguration of GSII steel plate operation the transfer of ownership to the
Indian-owned operator has yet to be settled.
"The company owes us P2 billion in real estate tax
arrears including penalties since 1999 when it closed operations," Cruz
said.
"Penalty and interests partially will be waived but we
will not condone the basic tax. This means, there is about half of the amount
due us," Cruz said.
Cruz said that some companies owe the city real estate taxes
but the biggest debtor is the citya€?s steel firm.
The tax arrears of NSC covered the period 1999 to 2004 in
the amount of P177 million, more or less.
This was the result of a settlement between the City of
"The tax liability we are referring to pertains to
National Steel Corp. and not that of Global Steel Philippines," he said.
Lalit Sehgal, GSII president said, he tried to settle their
tax liabilities with the City government but said, he was told, "You dona€?t
have an account with us."
NSC, which used to be owned by the governmenta€?s National
Development, went bankrupt and closed operations in 1999.
It reopened in 2004 under after Global Infrastructure
Holdings Ltd. of
Cruz explained the tax liabilities starting 2004 onwards
should be the responsibility of GSII while the taxes due for the period 2003 to
1999 should be NSCa€?s or under NSC liquidator.
However, Cruz said that until now less than 10 percent of
the total properties of NSC had been transferred to GSII and 90 percent is
still under NSC.
Before it closed in 1999, the NSC was paying almost P1
billion in taxes every year to the national government and an additional P200
million in real estate taxes to
With its reopening, the company was expected to contribute
around P4 billion to the countrya€?s gross domestic product.
