Better security asked in return for new tax<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Entertainment center owners are demanding better security in
\nexchange for paying the new taxes to be imposed on them by the
\ncity administration.<\/p>\n
Association of Indonesian Entertainment Center Owners
\n(Aspehindo) chairman Adrian Maelite said on Sunday that the
\nentertainment business would be willing to pay the new taxes as
\nlong as the Jakarta administration provided better protection and
\nsecurity.<\/p>\n
The City Council endorsed a new bylaw on local taxes on April
\n21, which allows the city administration to charge taxes on 71
\nnew targets, including entertainment businesses, hotels and golf
\ncourses.<\/p>\n
\"We would urging a quid pro quo from the administration in
\nreturn for the higher taxes they are slapping on us,\" Adrian told
\nThe Jakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Under the new bylaw, anyone wanting to establish a new club
\nhas to pay a tax of Rp 5 million (US$550), while the tax on the
\nestablishment of a discotheque is Rp 5 million, a live music
\nvenue Rp 2 million and a karaoke center between Rp 3 million and
\nRp 5 million. On top of that, they still have to pay annual taxes
\nof between Rp 1 million and Rp 3 million.<\/p>\n
Adrian complained that the entertainment industry was often
\nsubjected to security disturbances.<\/p>\n
He did not give details of the disturbances, but in the past
\nfive years the sector has been repeatedly targeted by groups such
\nas the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which has become famous for
\nviolently attacking entertainment centers that remain open during
\nthe Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan.<\/p>\n
Last year, the FPI attacked and vandalized restaurants and
\nentertainment centers across Greater Jakarta during Ramadhan.<\/p>\n
This string of attacks was not the first. The group's leader,
\nHabib Rizieq Shihab, was sentenced to a seven-month prison term in
\n2003 for ordering the members of his group to raid and attack
\nbars, restaurants and pool halls over a protracted period of
\ntime. He was released in November 2003.<\/p>\n
So far, little has been done by the police and the city
\nadministration to prevent such violence, despite the fact that
\nthe FPI often publicly expresses its intention of attacking
\nrestaurants and night spots that ignore their warnings.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for a five-star hotel here, who
\nrequested anonymity, complained that the new taxes would only
\nplace another burden on the already ailing industry.<\/p>\n
\"A new ruling always means more money,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She said that most hoteliers were still trying to come to
\ngrips with the fuel price increases announced by the government
\nearly last month.<\/p>\n
Worse still, competition among hoteliers had become tighter,
\nforcing them to slash profit margins by offering unsustainable
\ndiscounts, she complained.<\/p>\n
\"This simply shows that the business is no longer healthy,\"
\nshe asserted.<\/p>\n
At the moment, an entrepreneur has to pay a tax of Rp 20
\nmillion to establish a hotel and Rp 15 million for a motel.<\/p>\n
Entertainment centers, hotels and restaurants are among the
\ntargets of the newly endorsed bylaw on local taxes.<\/p>\n
Amending Bylaw No. 3\/1999 on local taxes, the new bylaw allows
\nthe administration to impose one-off start-up taxes and annual
\ntaxes on entertainment centers, hotels, restaurants and golf
\ncourses.<\/p>\n
The administration has set a tax-collection target for 2005 of
\nRp 355.8 billion (US$37.4 million) from hotels, Rp 296.7 billion
\nfrom restaurants and Rp 126 billion from entertainment centers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/better-security-asked-in-return-for-new-tax-1447893297",
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