JP/3/RADIOTAX/0

Cheap radios may be exempted from paying taxes

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is considering giving more time to radio owners to apply for an extension on their unpaid radio taxes and an exemption keeping cheap radios from being taxed, Fauzie Alvi Yasin, the head of the City Revenue Office, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

The last day of last month had been set by the city administration as the deadline for applying for the tax extension.

Citizens who have had radios in their possession before 1991 are required to pay a Rp 1,800 fine, while those who pay the tax later than March, 31, 1994 will also have to pay a Rp 1,800 fine.

The present regulation states that the present radio tax of Rp 3,000 applies to each radio owned from 1991 up to the present.

Thus, those who have owned a radio from before 1991 may have to pay up to Rp 4,800. That would be Rp 3,000 for radio taxes due this year, and a Rp 1,800 fine if they did not forward their application for an extension before March 31.

"I have asked Governor Surjadi Soedirdja to extend the notice until the end of June of this year and he has given his nod of approval," Fauzie said.

Fauzie said he has also asked Governor Surjadi to exempt cheap radios from the tax.

When asked what he meant by "cheap" radios, Fauzie said he still could not give categories of cheap radios but he added that whether a radio falls into the cheap category would not only be determined by its price, but also by its technical specifications.

For instance, radios which cost only Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 can be categorized as cheap radios, Fauzie said.

"Only when the governor has agreed to issue a revision to the present gubernatorial decree on radio taxes will I be able to tell you the categories," Fauzie told the Post.

When asked about the amount of taxes he had collected from radio owners, Fauzie said that of the targeted Rp 200 million, his office had, as of yesterday, collected about Rp 159 million. (06)