City plans to tax vendors next year<\/p>\n
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city administration is planning to legalize some 600,000
\nstreet vendors operating in Jakarta and collect tax in moves
\nestimated to add Rp 238 billion (US$23.8 million) to city coffers
\nnext year.<\/p>\n
City Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Agency informal sector
\ndivision head Sukma Jaya said on Tuesday that the administration
\nwas preparing a bylaw to collect money from street vendors.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the bylaw could be approved soon and we can begin
\ncollecting tax early next year,\" Sukma told reporters at City
\nHall.<\/p>\n
The planned bylaw would require street vendors pay a daily
\nlevy of between Rp 800 and Rp 1,000 each.<\/p>\n
\"We would give them identification cards. We will acknowledge
\ntheir existence,\" Sukma said.<\/p>\n
He admitted that certain officials in subdistricts --
\nincluding police and military officers -- illegally imposed
\nlevies on vendors as a \"protection fee\".<\/p>\n
City Council Commission B for economic affairs Deputy chairman
\nDani Anwar said the council would study the planned bylaw
\nthoroughly before approving it.<\/p>\n
\"If the bylaw would be useful for the city and the vendors we
\nwould approve it,\" Dani, of the Justice Party, told reporters,
\nadding that the council had yet to receive the proposed bylaw.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, City Public Order Office head Firman Hutajulu
\nreiterated on Tuesday that his office would not conduct raids
\nagainst street vendors during the fasting month of Ramadhan.<\/p>\n
\"They are still illegal. But we would not conduct raids
\nagainst them considering the atmosphere of this fasting month,\"
\nFirman told reporters.<\/p>\n
Thousands of street vendors are currently crowding around the
\ncity's traditional markets and road sides, such as in Jatinegara
\nmarket in East Jakarta and Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta.
\nTheir number has increased significantly during the fasting month
\nas people buy new clothes, accessories, household stuffs, food
\nand other items in celebration of the Lebaran and Christmas
\nholidays.<\/p>\n
In the past months, the administration conducted a series of
\nraids against the vendors. The policy drew strong protests from
\nthe traders, several non-governmental organizations and even
\nMinister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, who said
\nthat 65 percent of the labor force were employed in the informal
\nsector.<\/p>\n
For this year, the city budget allocated some Rp 36 billion to
\nconduct public order operations against street vendors, street
\nsingers, street prostitutes and other people who were considered
\nto be disturbing public order.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-plans-to-tax-vendors-next-year-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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