Bekasi plans to collect tax from street vendors

Bekasi plans to collect tax from street vendors

JAKARTA (JP): The Bekasi administration will soon collect
development taxes from food and drink street vendors operating
along the regency's roads.

The administration has distributed a document stipulating that
the daily tax will range between Rp 500 (US 20 cents) and Rp
1,500.

According to regulation 10/1991, all food and drink vendors
will be charged, including those with four-wheel carts and those
with permanent stalls.

It was reported yesterday that many vendors had objected
strongly to the policy.

A similar plan met strong opposition when it was announced in
late 1994, but was subsequently dropped.

"After the tax becomes effective we must pay Rp 700 a day for
the levies to the administration," Jayakarta daily quoted a
Padang food stall owner, Rizal, as saying yesterday.

"Why should we, the small food mongers, pay the tax," said the
owner of a Warteg food stall who came from Tegal, Central Java.

In Jakarta, the city has stated that small scale vendors are
not subject to the 10 percent development tax, because their
customers are considered poor.

To encourage the Bekasi traders to pay, the administration
will give prizes to tax payers through a lucky draw competition
twice a year. (kod)