Airport tax matters

Airport tax matters

From Neraca

Recently, I traveled to Surabaya for the umpteenth time. My arrival, this time, was rather special because I arrived by plane.

I would like to emphasize that my story about the trip to Surabaya is related to airport tax matters. The airport tax sticker, no longer attached to my ticket raised a problem, for me at least.

Everyone leaving Soekarno-Hatta airport is taxed Rp 11,000. Padang and Pekanbaru's airport tax would surely be a different amount. It is quite certain that the disparity in airport taxes was adopted because of different facilities at every airport.

But to me, Surabaya's airport tax is an amusing joke at Rp 9,900. It certainly proved so to passengers standing in line.

One of them retorted: "Wow, airport tax tariffs here resemble supermarket prices. If we pay with a Rp 10,000 bill, do we get the change? In supermarkets they have replaced small change with candies worth Rp 100."

It was interesting that the joke referred to airport tax calculations. Why do airport tax tariffs differ from one place to another? What are calculations based upon since prices are not uniform at airports? Are these taxes returned to the government or shared among the various regions? And what department is responsible for my complaints?

HELMI

Bogor, West Java