Official levies to be coordinated : Mar'ie

Official levies to be coordinated : Mar'ie

JAKARTA (JP): The government is preparing measures to
coordinate levies imposed by the central government and local
administrations, so that they don't overlap with each other,
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said here yesterday.

"It is essential to coordinate the regulations and the
mechanism of the collection of levies," he told the Budgetary
Commission of the House of Representatives (DPR) at a hearing.

The minister and the House members were on the second day of
their four-day discussion on the government-proposed state budget
for the 1996/1997 fiscal year, which will be implemented in
April.

The minister said provincial administrations' regulations
allowing the imposition of levies should also be upgraded to laws
so that such levies will require approval from the House of
Representatives before being introduced.

The government is now under pressure to scrap all kinds of
levies burdening the country's high-cost economic activities to
improve its competitive edge in foreign markets.

A number of ministries have committed to scrapping their
respective levies.

However, many economists express doubt whether local
administrations would also support the commitment, given the fact
that most of provinces' revenues come from such levies.

At yesterday's hearing, the minister acknowledged that his
task would not be easy. "It will take time," he told the hearing,
which will proceed until tomorrow.

State firms

Mar'ie also said that the government would further consolidate
state-owned companies in a bid to improve their efficiency.

State-owned companies with similar production lines, for
example, would be merged, with one of them to be assigned to act
as a holding firm, he said.

He said the integration of PT Semen Tonasa in South Sulawesi
and PT Semen Padang in West Java into the publicly listed PT
Semen Gresik would be taken as a model in the consolidation of
state-owned companies.

A business liquidation would be the last resort in the
government's restructuring of its companies, he said.

In a related development, Director General for Plantations A.
Rante Tondok said Tuesday that state-owned plantation companies,
now totaling 30, would be merged into 14 groups of companies,
based on their operational sites.

He said that the names of the state-owned plantation
companies, which are now taken from their operational codes,
would also be changed.

"The proposal on the consolidation is waiting for President
Soeharto's approval," he told newsmen at a breaking of the fast
gathering at his office Tuesday evening.

About the financing of the general elections to be held next
year, Mar'ie told the House members yesterday that the funds
would be allocated in the state budget.

"The government will set aside Rp 214.6 billion for the
election committees," he said, adding that the total funds would
be allocated in three consecutive fiscal years.

Around Rp 76 billion of the total funds will be allocated in
the 1995/1996 fiscal year, Rp 128.7 billion in 1996/1997 and
another Rp 99.9 billion in 1997/1998, the minister said. (hen)