Govt to introduce fishing tax to boost state revenue

Govt to introduce fishing tax to boost state revenue

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to introduce a fishing tax
in the immediate future to raise revenue from the country's rich
fishery sector, according to Minister of Maritime Exploration
Sarwono Kusumaatmadja.

Sarwono said on Monday the Ministry of Finance and his office
were currently in the process of finalizing the ruling on the new
tax.

Speaking at a media conference following a meeting with senior
economic ministers, he said the fishing tax would probably be set
at around 2.5 percent of production.

"Until now, the fishery sector has not contributed to state
revenue because there has been no ruling on a fishing tax," he
said.

He also said the government would introduce a new ruling on
foreign vessels fishing in Indonesian waters, although he did not
indicate what this ruling might be.

Sarwono also said the government was planning to introduce a
control, monitoring and surveillance (CMS) system, primarily
designed to curb the rampant theft of Indonesian maritime
resources.

He said the US$500 million CMS system would be implemented on
a trial basis in July.

He said the government would finance 10 percent of the total
investment in the system, with the remaining 90 percent coming
from the private sector.

He said four private companies and a foreign company from
France were ready to participate in the trial phase of the
system.

Sarwono stated the country suffered large losses from the
theft of its maritime resources, with illegal fishing alone
costing the central government some Rp 1 trillion ($126.58
million) per year.

He said the new CMS system would also help curb the rampant
smuggling of fuel and illegally cut logs.

"If we can have an effective CMS system, we can save around $3
billion per year," he said.

He added that with an effective CMS system, the value of the
country's fish exports could be increased to around $6 billion
per year from the current $2.2 billion.

"You can imagine the huge benefits of the CMS system to our
country," he said.

Sarwono said the country's fishery sector had been neglected
by the previous government.

He stated that this was due to the relatively small
contribution the fishery sector made to the state budget, a
result of the fact that the government did not impose taxes on
fishing activities.

President Abdurrahman Wahid introduced the Ministry of
Maritime Exploration in a bid to raise revenue from the country's
maritime resources. (rei)