Impose progressive taxes on private transport: Experts
Impose progressive taxes on private transport: Experts
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Transportation experts on Thursday welcomed the city's plan to
impose progressive taxes on cars and motorcycles and urged the
administration to use the funds collected from higher taxes to
expedite the development of a public transportation system in the
capital.
"The administration must ensure that taxes collected from car
owners be used to expedite the improvement of public
transportation ... Otherwise, such a policy would fail to attain
the desired objectives of encouraging people to switch from
private cars to public transportation," chairman of the Indonesia
Transportation Society Bambang Susantono told The Jakarta Post.
Bambang said that the basic idea of progressive taxes was to
make people pay the "true cost of driving."
"People using private cars must pay more than people who use
public transportation since motorists take up more road space for
their cars, contribute more to air pollution and consume
subsidized fuel," he said.
Similarly, City Transportation Council (DTK) chairman Soetanto
Soehodho said the funds collected from the taxes should be
managed transparently so that the public could monitor whether or
not the funds were being used for improving public
transportation.
"An immediate improvement in public transportation is vital as
an alternative to private car owners who are willing to use
public transportation and leave their cars at home," said the
director of Center for Transportation Studies with the University
of Indonesia.
Many transportation experts have said that the ideal means of
transportation to solve the entire traffic headache in the
capital is a Mass Rapid Transit system. However, this would
require enormous investment. The MRT project was first floated in
the 1970s and later during the administration of governor Surjadi
Soedirdja.
The project, which would have cost US$800 million for the
basic infrastructure and an additional $300 million to $400
million for rolling stock, was postponed after the financial
crisis struck the country in 1997.
City Revenue Agency Agusman Badarudin revealed Wednesday that
the administration was preparing higher vehicular taxes, which
will be imposed on residents or individuals who have more than
one vehicle, be it a car or motorcycle.
The policy is a follow-up to an instruction issued by
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on July 12 on energy
conservation.
"Hopefully, higher taxes imposed will discourage people from
using private cars and therefore reduce fuel consumption in the
capital," he said.
The taxes would only target private cars and motorcycles and
not the owners of public transportation vehicles.
City Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said the level of tax would be
based on the kind of vehicle -- four-wheeled vehicle or two-
wheeled --, brand, engine capacity and vehicle lifespan.
The taxes will be set at 25 percent of the latest sales value
of the particular vehicle (NJKB).
"We won't wait any longer to start implementing these taxes,"
Fauzi said.