Foundations subject to tax

Foundations subject to tax

From Bisnis Indonesia

The foundations set up by former president Soeharto no longer have special facilities and they will even have to pay tax.

In all fairness, and in order to increase state funds coming from income tax as set in the 1999/2000 State Budget, all foundations, without exception, are subject to tax.

Numerous businesses masquerading under the name of foundations have been involved in the education sector, ranging from kindergarten to university levels, and have reaped huge profits.

In this context, President B.J. Habibie should have the courage to issue regulations obliging private schools (including favored ones) to admit students, say 30 percent of their capacity, from indigenous families who are fairly poor. Remember, the social gap resulted from the system developed by the New Order. Way back during the Sukarno era, a wide social gap was virtually nonexistent. The rich were fairly modest in their lifestyles and the poor accepted their condition as part of belonging to the majority. Back then we witnessed harmonious relations among people of different strata, between indigenous people and nonindigenous people, no segregation or boundaries whatsoever.

However, the present setting in terms of disharmony is awfully striking.

TAUFIK KARMADI

Jakarta