Government eases tax relief procedure

Government eases tax relief procedure

JAKARTA (JP): The government will ease application procedures
for property tax relief next year for people who are financially
strapped, Tax Director General Fuad Bawazier said.

Fuad said that the new procedure would involve heads of
villages and districts so applicants will no longer need to
endure long waits to find out if their requests were approved.

"If the appeal of a taxpayer is approved, his property tax
payment for the prevailing fiscal year will be immediately
lowered," he said.

Land and building tax rates are based on the market price of
properties. The system, however, has caused concern for
financially incapable people, such as pensioners living in the
city and natural disaster victims, as the property tax they are
obligated to pay often far exceeds their annual income.

These people may appeal for tax relief or tax reductions, but
existing procedures are not only extremely complicated but also
exceedingly time consuming.

The planned mechanism will be carefully enforced to prevent it
being abused, he said.

Fuad said that the government's property tax receipts in the
April to June period, the first three months of 1995-96 fiscal
year, had reached 14.8 percent of the Rp 1.92 trillion (US$872
million) projected for the entire fiscal year..

He said the property tax receipts in the April to June period
were around 0.8 percent lower than those of the corresponding
period in the last fiscal year. (hen)