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)