Car taxes

Car taxes

From Bisnis Indonesia

According to reports, the Jakarta City legislative council has
already given its approval to a draft regulation regarding a
progressive system of taxes on motorized vehicles in the Jakarta
area. The draft has reportedly been submitted to the Minister of
Home Affairs for endorsement.

So that the new regulation will be implemented fairly, I would
like to make the following suggestions:

1. Since checks on car ownership will be made on families on
the basis of family cards (kartu keluarga), the validity of new
progressive tax regulation should not be made retroactive. In
other words the regulation should affect only cars acquired after
the regulation has gone into effect.

2. The stipulations concerning ownership of more than one car
should be limited to cars whose year of manufacture does not
exceed five years.

These changes are because of the principle that no law should
be retroactive in validity, which could harm the public. Also,
many families possess more than five cars -- old cars that are
more than five years old and are quite inexpensive.

SUHARSONO HADIKUSUMO

Jakarta