Car owners shocked by tax increase

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration announced vehicle taxes would increase by up to 22 percent, so vehicles owners were shocked when they realized the increase was really over 100 percent.

"It's not true that the increase is only 22 percent. The reality is that it is 100 percent," one vehicle owner, Diah, said at the Vehicle Document Service (Samsat) office on Jl. D.I. Panjaitan in East Jakarta on Wednesday.

She said last year she paid a vehicle tax of Rp 105,000 (US$9.50) for her 1975 Toyota Corolla, while this year she had to pay Rp 210,000 for the same vehicle.

She was left wondering why the vehicle tax on her old car was so high, claiming the employees at the office did not offer her an explanation for the increase.

"The increase is for the officials (in the government) and we have to bear it," Diah said.

Like other offices offering public services, the Samsat office was crowded with middlemen, known as calo, offering their services to car owners in processing their vehicle documents.

One of the brokers, Yudi, said many vehicles owners were shocked when they realized their vehicle tax had doubled, but said they had no alternative but pay the price.

"I don't know anything about the tax increase. It just came out from the computer at the tax office," Yudi, who also works as a parking attendant at the office, said.

Giving an example, he said the vehicle tax for a 2000 Kijang van was Rp 400,000 last year, and this year the tax was Rp 800,000.

He also said the vehicle tax for motorcycles had increased by 80 percent, saying if the owners paid Rp 20,000 last year this year they had to pay Rp 35,000.

Circulars announcing the tax increase were placed in the windows of the office, but were removed when the tax increase became controversial, he said.

"The announcements have been removed. Officials said they would be corrected," Yudi said.

Yudi said he and other brokers normally charged vehicle owners a service fee of Rp 30,000 for cars and Rp 20,000 for motorcycles.

"The document can be completed in one hour. I promise," Yudi said.

Separately, the head of the city's revenue agency, Deden Supriadi, acknowledged that the tax increase could reach up to 100 percent due to the change in the government's fiscal year. Previously the fiscal year ran from April to March, but starting last year this was changed so the fiscal year matched the January to December calender year.

Therefore, vehicle owners are paying a double increase for this year's tax payment, he said. They must pay the increase for the 2000 budget year, which ran from April to December, as well as the tax increase introduced in April this year.

"That is why it seems the increase is 100 percent. Yes, it's 100 percent if it is compared with the tax two years ago," he said on Wednesday.

But he maintained that the current vehicles tax increase averaged between 0.34 percent and 22.4 percent, compared with the vehicle tax in the 2000 budget year.

The government also changed the base in calculating the tax. Now the tax is based on the selling price of a vehicle, where it was previously calculated based on engine capacity. This means the more expensive the car, the higher the vehicle tax.

In addition to the selling price of vehicles, which the city administration will recalculate annually, the vehicle tax is also based on several other factors, called weighting factors, including the age of the vehicles. The older the vehicle, the higher the weighting factor.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that he would review the vehicle tax increase since it had become a source of controversy among the people.

"I have established a team to review the vehicle tax increase," Sutiyoso was quoted by SCTV television station as saying during a governors' meeting in Ancol, North Jakarta. He did not give any further details.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum, Azas Tigor Naiggolan, urged the city administration to suspend the vehicle tax increase.

"The increase should be suspended. The administration should provide an explanation as to why they increased the tax," Tigor said. (jun)