New guidelines on car tax await governor's approval
New guidelines on car tax await governor's approval
JAKARTA (JP): Head of the City Revenue Office Wahab Rachmatsjah said yesterday that his office has submitted the technical guidelines of a progressive car taxation system to Governor Surjadi Soedirdja.
"My office has already formulated the system's guidelines and it is now being reviewed by the governor," he said.
Wahab said implementation of the new tax regulation will begin as soon as the governor approves the guidelines.
Deputy Governor for Government Affairs Idroes made a similar statement that the city administration will start implementing the regulation as soon as the governor approves the guidelines.
"Hopefully, the implementation can be started as soon as possible, maybe next month," Idroes said yesterday.
Wahab announced last week that the ministry of home affairs had approved a proposal, raised by city administration, on the progressive car taxation system and it would be enforced beginning next month.
The regulation, approved by city council last July, is designed to increase city revenue and to slow the growth in the number of private cars by promoting the use of public buses instead.
The regulation requires motorists to pay 120 percent of the effective car tax rate for a second car. The tax rises to 140 percent for the third car, 160 percent for the fourth, 180 percent for the fifth and 200 percent for the sixth and subsequent cars.
When asked about efforts to improve public transportation, which was suggested by the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI), Idroes said city administration has taken several steps, such as providing more big-capacity buses of the state-owned bus company, PPD, and replacing small-capacity buses with bigger ones.
Minibuses
Early in January, owners of city minibus companies agreed to replace every two minibuses, plying major thoroughfares, with one big-capacity bus. In its first stage, the program will be implemented only for minibuses passing down the city's main roads such as Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin, he said.
The City administration has also agreed to issue permits for 1,000 new big-capacity buses to operate in the city.
YLKI hailed the city administration's decision to implement, as of next month, the progressive car taxation system.
The foundation urged city administration to use the new regulation as a way to not only increase its revenue but to solve the traffic and air pollution problem as well.
City administration should improve the quality of public transportation because people will feel that the tax will only be a burden if they fail to do that.
YLKI said people are forced to use private cars even though they are not rich because they need a safe and comfortable means of transportation. (yns)