Illogical fiscal tax

Illogical fiscal tax

Although I always think positively and have tried to
understand the government's financial position by imagining
myself in the shoes of the Director General of Taxes, I still
regard the requirement to pay fiscal tax by people traveling
abroad to be illogical and silly.

My job requires me to reside in Singapore (this is my second
year there), but my husband and the other members of my family
are in Jakarta, meaning I have to go back to Jakarta at least
once a month or else my family members visit me in Singapore.

As my passport is stamped by the Indonesian Embassy in
Singapore stating that I reside in Toa Payoh, I am exempted from
paying fiscal tax four times a year. However, there are urgent
things (such as illnesses) and other unavoidable matters that
force me to come back.

Frankly speaking, I do not have a clear understanding of what
this tax is all about. I do not work in Indonesia and my company
has nothing to do with Indonesia. But, why do I have to pay Rp 1
million every time I come back to Indonesia and return to work in
Singapore. Just for your information, Mr. Director General of
Taxes, the fiscal tax costs more than a Jakarta-Singapore return
ticket.

My husband sometimes comes to visit me in Singapore via Batam
due to the lower fiscal tax there (Rp 500.000 by sea), despite
all the ensuing consequences: longer time spent traveling, tedium
and discomfort.

I am just an ordinary housewife who has to toil for
everything, queue up to buy a bottle of body lotion at a reduced
price, totally different from the wives of senior officials who
are always accompanied by adjutants when spending their dollars
in shopping malls abroad.

Mr. Director General of Taxes, you may have clever arguments,
but why are there so many touts at the airport offering their
services to settle the fiscal tax for only Rp 300,000 or Rp
600,000 (I do not really know the exact price and I must say that
I am not at all interested in dealing with any of them).

This is the fate of an Indonesian citizen who has to pay for
something illogical. Indonesia is the only country that obliges
its citizens to pay tax when they travel abroad.

To those that are responsible for the fiscal tax, you should
know that you are using the money of other people who strongly
object to paying it. This is something that will be taken into
account by God both in this world and in the next.

ENTIN SUPRIATI

Singapore