Broadening tax base demands clean govt

JAKARTA (JP): Tax Director General Fuad Bawazier said yesterday that the broader the tax base in the country is, the stronger the demand for clean government will be.

Bawazier told a seminar on financing self-reliance in Purwokerto, Central Java, that the greater the number of people who pay income tax is, the higher public awareness about their right to good public services will be.

Taxpayers, he noted, are usually more vocal in airing their views and more conscious of their basic rights and duties as good citizens.

"Therefore, the tax campaign will also accelerate the drive for clean government," the tax director general said.

Bawazier said the tax effort should also be supported by the government through the provision of good public services and better basic infrastructures.

"Tax compliance will increase if the taxpayers know that their tax payments are used efficiently for the public interests," he pointed out.

More than 70 percent of the government's internal revenues of Rp 59.7 trillion envisaged for the current fiscal year will be derived from direct and indirect taxes collected from the economic sectors outside the oil and natural gas industry.

Bawazier said his office will continue to improve tax administration services to encourage the people to pay taxes.

But the government must also continue to improve the business climate because growing and expanding businesses will contribute to increasing tax receipts, he added.(vin)