'Fiskal' money pilfered

'Fiskal' money pilfered

From Merdeka

I was flabbergasted by the statement from the Attorney General's office of suspicion that fiskal money (tax paid by travelers going abroad) pilfered at Soekarno-Hatta airport from 1997 until now amounted to Rp 600 billion. It is a staggering amount of money to be defrauded from one place during one year. Either the perpetrator is a very skillful operator -- or has the opportunity been created?

The fiskal amounting to Rp 1 million levied on each traveler is in my opinion a controversial policy and against all logic. Apart from the fact that such a policy is found nowhere in the world, it gives the impression that Indonesians going abroad are all rich and it is therefore legal to impose this special tax on them.

In connection with the embezzlement of fiskal money, it is time that this product of the Soeharto regime (the policy of fiskal) is abolished. Especially since this regulation became even more controversial after it was increased from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1,000,000 by the minister of finance of the Soeharto era, Fuad Bawazier.

If the government uses the excuse that it needs income from the taxation sector, I would like to ask, "Where has all that money gone?" The conclusion is that the government does not receive the correct amount of income from the taxation sector.

I would therefore like to appeal again that the fiskal regulation be revoked. What does the Indonesian Consumers' Institute (YLKI) think of it?

RIZAL DARMAPUTRA

Tangerang, West Java