Liem tops country's taxpayers
JAKARTA (JP): Soedono Salim (Liem Sioe Liong), the chairman of the giant Salim Group, topped the list of the country's 200 biggest individual taxpayers for 1995, after coming second in the last two years' rankings.
PT Freeport Indonesia in Irian Jaya was listed as the largest corporate taxpayer, rising from its rank of 53 for 1994.
Director General of Taxation Fuad Bawazier announced last night that Putera Sampoerna, the chairman of the East Java-based Sampoerna cigarette group, had dropped to number 11 after topping the individual list for 1994.
Eka Tjipta Widjaja, the chairman of Sinar Mas Group, jumped to second spot from seventh last year.
The next four biggest individual taxpayers were all members of the family which controls cigarette manufacturer PT Gudang Garam. They were listed in order as Rachman Halim, Susilo Wonowidjojo, Sigid Sumargo Wonowidjojo and Sumarta Wonowidjojo.
The remaining top ten individual taxpayers for 1995 were, in descending order, little-known Mrs. Jd. Tan Siok Tjien, Soedono's son Anthoni Salim, Prajogo Pangestu, the chairman of Barito Pacific Group, and President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, the chairman of Bimantara Group.
The 200 largest individual taxpayers paid Rp 194.89 billion (US$81.3 million at current rate) in income tax, or 2.7 percent of total individual income taxes of Rp 7.23 trillion, in 1995.
"The 200 top corporate taxpayers contributed Rp 4.8 trillion, or 36.7 percent of the total amount of corporate income tax receipts in 1995," Fuad noted.
Soeharto's other children appeared among the 200 top taxpayers: Hutomo Mandala Putra, the chairman of Humpuss Group, came 13th; Sigit Hardjojudanto came 37th and Siti Hediati came 177th. Soeharto's son-in-law Indra Rukmana was ranked 23rd.
Prominent businessman Sudwikatmono, the president of PT Indocement, came 14th, timber baron Mohamad (bob) Hasan came 24th, Ibrahim Risjad, the chairman of Risjadson Group, came 26th and Mochtar Riady of the Lippo Group came 29th.
Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of Bakrie Group, took 57th spot, Sofyan Wanandi of Gemala Group came 60th, Soebronto Laras of PT Indomobil came 64th, Marimutu Sinivasan of the Texmaco Group came 75th and Jakob Oetoma, the chief editor of Kompas daily, came 79th.
Sukamdani S. Gitosardjono, the chairman of Sahid Group, came 97th, Probosutedjo of Garmak Motor Group came 140th, Rudy Ramli of PT Bank Bali came 147th and Hasyim Djojohadikusumo of the Tirtamas Group came 197th.
Fuad said the ranking was based on tax returns for 1995, the latest year for which figures were available. The deadline for 1996 income tax returns is March 31.
Fuad said the law prohibited him from disclosing the taxpayers' incomes.
Mar'ie said the announcement of the 200 largest individual taxpayers and 200 largest corporate tax payers aimed to improve people's tax compliance and transparency in filling out tax invoices.
Fuad said Freeport topped the list of the 200 corporate taxpayers for 1995 because of its rising income. "It might result from the increasing prices of copper or gold. I don't know. But the fact is that its income was much higher for 1995."
State-owned telecommunications firms PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and PT Indonesia Satellite Corp. (Indosat), which ranked first and second respectively for 1993 and 1994, came second and third in 1995.
East Java-based cigarette producer PT H.M. Sampoerna grabbed fourth place, PT Gudang Garam, the country's largest cigarette maker, came fifth and the country's largest cement producer PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa came sixth.
The remaining top ten corporate tax payers for 1995 were state-owned companies. In descending order, they were Bank Negara Indonesia 1946, Bank Expor Impor Indonesia, toll road operator Jasa Marga and Bank Rakyat Indonesia. (rid)