Exit tax scams

Exit tax scams

From Suara Karya

The collection of an exit tax of Rp 500,000, or even Rp 1 million, from Indonesian citizens wishing to go abroad is probably abused by corrupt officers. Obviously, this will cause financial losses to the state. Secretary of the Tax Directorate General M. Soebakir may be annoyed about rumors of the decline in state income from the exit tax imposed on passengers going abroad via Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport. Therefore, I propose to the tax directorate general the following measures:

First, exercise tighter supervision over corrupt officers allegedly involved in exit tax fraud committed by an exit tax mafia. Some legal action may need to be taken against them.

Second, tax officers should actively conduct the final check on passengers' departure documents. Deploying someone from the tax directorate general to check a passenger's exit tax settlement will reduce the likelihood of losses being incurred by the state.

Third, tax directorate general personnel and immigration officers need to cooperate and understand each other better in dealing with passenger manifests at the airport as both institutions' employees are the country's civil servants, whose job it is to serve the public.

Fourth, immigration officers should not feel that tax personnel have intervened in their area of duty as it is in the interests of the nation to boost state income from the tax sector. Therefore, it isn't wrong if the tax directorate general and immigration directorate general issue a joint decree on this matter.

VALERY E. SETIAWAN

Bengkulu