ICT industry objects to proposed bandwidth tax<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Internet and cellular telecommunication users could expect to
\npay higher rates if the government goes ahead with a plan to tax
\nthe utilization of bandwidth.<\/p>\n
The plan is contained in a new draft of the tax law currently
\nat the House of Representatives, and has lead to industry
\ncomplaints that it would have to pay a double tax of up to 30
\npercent, having already been subjected to a 10 percent value
\nadded tax (VAT).<\/p>\n
\"Businesses will likely pass the new burden on to consumers,\"
\nsaid Internet Service Provider Association (APJII) representative
\nSylvia W. Sumarlin recently.<\/p>\n
Claiming an increase in fees would hamper the growth of the
\ninformation and communication technology (ICT) industry, several
\nassociations have objected to the plan.<\/p>\n
\"With the new burden, ICT development would be slower. Last
\nyear, the industry grew by 20 percent in terms of number of
\nbusinesses and the ICT penetration ratio,\" said Infocom Society
\ntax working group head Rudi Rusdiah.<\/p>\n
Currently, Indonesia has a low ICT penetration ratio of 2
\npercent, meaning that only 4.4 million of 220 million Indonesians
\nhave access to internet services.<\/p>\n
Most other countries in the Asian region have reached at least
\n5 percent penetration.<\/p>\n
\"The use of bandwidth should not be taxed like a royalty, as
\nit only provides the connection access for internet users and is
\nnot a technology,\" said Sylvia.<\/p>\n
In the new draft of the tax law, the government plans to tax
\nincome derived from the transfer of data using satellites,
\noptical cables and fiber optics.<\/p>\n
The data is transferred through bandwidth, a term the ICT
\nindustry uses to define a range within a band of wavelengths,
\nfrequencies or energies.<\/p>\n
This is a measure of how many megabytes of digital data can be
\nchanneled. Currently, information and telecommunications
\ntechnology depends on satellites for the transfer of data.<\/p>\n
APJII, along with other related industry associations, said
\nICT companies were already paying a value added tax on the
\nbandwidth they used.<\/p>\n
\"Taxing the use of bandwidth is just like imposing a tax on
\nthe use of satellites that are not even the government's,\" Sylvia
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Separately, the director general of post and
\ntelecommunications at the Ministry of Communications and
\nInformation, Basuki Yusuf Iskandar, said his office had not been
\nconsulted when those sections of the new tax law that affect the
\nICT industry were being drafted.<\/p>\n
\"I cannot comment on the effect (the law) would have, but as
\nfar as I know my office was never formally or informally
\nconsulted on the matter,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The draft was drawn up mainly by the Ministry of Finance.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ict-industry-objects-to-proposed-bandwidth-tax-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }