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