Owners skeptical about progressive car tax plan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Car owners are skeptical about a planned
\nprogressive car tax, saying it will only create new loopholes for
\ncorrupt officers.<\/p>\n
"More loopholes will be created because of this new car tax as
\nlong as services and the administration at agencies involved in
\nthe issuance of car ownership documents remain poor," said
\nThomas, an East Jakarta resident who owns two cars.<\/p>\n
Thomas was commenting on a bill on a new car tax, which
\nincludes an annual progressive car tax system. The bill was
\napproved Monday by the City Council and Governor Surjadi
\nSoedirdja.<\/p>\n
The bill, to be put into effect this year, states that
\nmotorists must pay 120 percent of effective tax levels for a
\nsecond a car, 140 percent for a third car, 160 percent for a
\nfourth car, 180 percent for the fifth and 200 percent for the
\nsixth and any others. The extra taxes will be imposed on owners
\nof passenger cars (and on companies owning more than one cars)
\nthat are not used for public transportation.<\/p>\n
"The idea is good, but the question is, will the practice be
\ngood as well? Can all of the funds collected from this
\nprogressive tax be used for the public welfare as planned? And
\nwill there be a guarantee that the funds will go to the right
\nplace?" Thomas asked yesterday in an interview with The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
Rudini<\/p>\n
In 1992, the minister of home affairs at the time, Rudini, one
\nof the supporters of the policy, suggested that the
\nadministration use the funds collected from the progressive tax
\nto purchase more buses.<\/p>\n
"This (tax collection) will allow people to own six to 10
\ncars. On the other hand, the money generated from the private
\nvehicle tax can be used to subsidize public transportation," said
\nRudini.<\/p>\n
The progressive car taxes are, according to the City Council,
\naimed at increasing the city's revenue. It is also to ensure a
\nmore equal distribution of wealth among the residents by drawing
\nmore taxes from the rich to help solve the city's traffic
\nproblem.<\/p>\n
Thomas said he doubts that the progressive car tax will solve
\nthe traffic problem.<\/p>\n
"First, people will complain, but then since there is no other
\nchoice, they would rather pay the tax than to take public
\ntransportation, which cannot yet be relied on," he argued.<\/p>\n
Several other car owners interviewed by the Post also
\nexpressed their doubts that the new system can be implemented
\nproperly.<\/p>\n
"It will only open more doors to corruption, for example, by
\nthose in charge of the issuance of ID cards or family cards,"
\nsaid a production manager of a pharmaceutical company in West
\nJakarta who declined to give his name.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Mansyur Achmad, the chairman of the City Council's
\nCommission D on transportation, said that the newly passed bill
\nis designed to take into account the practice of owners of more
\nthan one car registering the cars under various names to avoid
\nthe tax.<\/p>\n
Requirement<\/p>\n
The bill requires the use of family identity cards and
\npersonal identity cards as a basis of identification to determine
\nwho will pay the tax, Mansyur said.<\/p>\n
Family identity cards record the identity of a family who
\nlives at one address. The cards must be approved by the heads of
\nthe community units where the family resides. Persons other than
\nthe mother, father and children of the family are excluded from
\nthe cards.<\/p>\n
This means that it would be theoretically impossible for an
\nowner of more than one car to register his second car using the
\nname of his servant or other non-family members.<\/p>\n
Mansyur said yesterday the details on how to protect the
\nregulation from such delinquent tax payers will be discussed
\nlater, and particulars about it will be appended once the newly
\npassed bill is approved by the Minister of Home Affairs.<\/p>\n
Some members of the City Council said that to effectively
\nimplement the new regulation, district and subdistrict officials
\nwill check car ownership in their areas.<\/p>\n
The majority of owners said that they were not yet well-
\ninformed about the new system. They were also in the dark about
\nthe important role of the family identity cards in car ownership
\nregistration. (als\/arf)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/owners-skeptical-about-progressive-car-tax-plan-1447893297",
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