The AIM, Hills Governance Program has been awarded a $120,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development-EMERGE Project. The Hills Program project is entitled “Towards an Integrated System of Motor Vehicle Registration, Land Public Transport Franchising and Transport Sector Taxation” and will be executed in 2006. A brief description follows:
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is primarily responsible for improved tax collection. However, regulatory agencies of the government could make substantial contributions to improving tax collection and administration. The main regulatory agencies in the transport sector are the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). All motor vehicle owners are required to register their vehicles with the LTO, while operators of common carriers and transportation contractors are required to apply for a franchise with the LTFRB. Both motor vehicle registration and application/renewal of franchise require the certificate of payment of certain tax obligations (e.g., BIR registration certificate, annual registration fee payment, VAT or percentage tax returns, income tax returns, and common-carrier taxes), and insurance policy coverage. The insurance industry, which is regulated by the IC, is likewise subject to a number of taxes, such as premium tax, documentary stamp tax, VAT, income tax, and withholding tax. Given the interconnectedness of the functions of these four agencies, stronger coordination and information sharing among transport regulatory and tax administration agencies would allow for improved tax collection and services delivery.
The project will attempt to improve and integrate the processes involved in motor vehicle registration, land public transport franchising, and transport sector taxation. These processes thread through the LTO, LTFRB, BIR, and IC.
The specific objectives of the project are:
1.To review and analyze the business processes and their accompanying organizational structures and level of ICT support, which are pertinent to motor vehicle registration, land public transport franchising, and transport sector taxation;
2.To identify possible areas of interconnectedness in the processes undertaken by the LTO, LTFRB, BIR, and IC, which include but are not limited to data generation, processing and analysis.
3.To design, pilot-test, and set up an improved and integrated system for motor vehicle registration, land public transport franchising, and transport sector taxation; and
4.To design and implement a changed plan for the introduction and adoption of the integrated system;