Hodges v Municipal Board of Iloilo (1963)

Hodges v Municipal Board of Iloilo GR No L-18129, January 31, 1963

FACTS:
In 1960, the Municipal Board of Iloilo enacted Ordinance 33 requiring the payment of a sales tax of 1⁄2 of 1% of the selling price of any motor vehicle and prohibiting the registration of the sale involving said vehicle in the Motors Vehicle Office of Iloilo unless the tax has been paid. Hodges, engaged in buying-and-selling of secondhand motor vehicles in the city, assailed the ordinance as invalid for being passed in excess of the authority conferred by law upon the municipal board. 

ISSUE:
Is the City of Iloilo empowered to impose the tax?

RULING:
Yes. The City of Iloilo, through its municipal board, is empowered:

1. (a)  to impose municipal licenses, taxes or fees upon any person engaged in any occupation or business, or exercising any privilege, in the city;
   
2. (b)  to regulate and impose reasonable fees for services rendered in connection with any business, profession or occupation conducted within the city; and
   
3. (c)  to levy for public purposes just and uniform taxes, licenses or fees.
   

The tax in question is in the form of percentage tax on the proceeds of the sale of a motor vehicle. The prohibition against such tax refers only to municipalities and municipal district and does not comprehend chartered cities as the City of Iloilo.