Bill on property taxes, levies passed into law

Bill on property taxes, levies passed into law

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has passed a bill requiring the
city administration to set aside its net revenue from taxes and
levies for the improvement of public facilities in all the city's
subdistricts.

The bill, endorsed by Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and City
Council Chairman M.H. Ritonga in a plenary session yesterday, is
primarily aimed at giving more authority to subdistrict officials
in an attempt to reach tax and levy collection targets. The more
taxes they submit to the city administration, the more they will
receive.

There are three kinds of taxes and two types of levies
stipulated in the bill. They include land and property tax, radio
receiver tax, canine ownership tax and levies collected from
street vendors.

According to Article 2 of the bill, 10 percent of the city
administration's net revenue from land and property taxes should
be given to subdistrict administrations.

Ninety percent of tax revenues from canine ownership and radio
receiver taxes and 80 percent of total taxes and levies collected
from sidewalk traders should also be distributed to subdistrict
administrations.

Erna Soeparman, from the ruling Golkar faction, said that her
faction has decided to pass the bill because it should motivate
officials of subdistrict administrations to serve the public more
professionally.

She also said the bill is expected to increase the number of
tax payers.

She also urged the city administration to exercise stricter
control of subdistrict administration officials since they now
have greater responsibilities.

Djenny Suharso, a councillor from the Indonesian Democracy
Party faction, said that to support the implementation of the
bill the municipality should exercise tighter inspections, have a
more effective auditing system and ensure treasurers have a high
degree of integrity and responsibility.

Meanwhile, Arwi Rangkuti, from the United Development Party,
said that the municipality's allocated portion of funds should be
based on the financial condition of each of the subdistrict
administrations.

The bill, which has been discussed since June 23 by the City
Council, is in line with the Minister of Home Affairs' 1990
decree that requires the municipalities to set aside some of
their tax income to be allocated to subdistrict administrations.
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