On exit tax

I refer to Mrs. R. Tuty's letter in The Jakarta Post on April 11, 2000, on the issue of exit tax. I am sure that many of us share her frustration. We have to pay road tolls and parking fees, and even illegal fees charged on the road when we make a left or right turn.

A friend of mine at Soekarno-Hatta Airport expressed shock when learning that I had pay all kinds of levies only to get out of the airport to get to my home.

The most worrying fact is the exit tax (Rp 1 million) that has to be paid when one leaves the country. Has anyone ever attempted to figure out the extent of the abuse in connection to this exit tax? Last time I left, I noticed no computer where the payment of the exit tax was made. There was neither cash register nor counting machine. You were given a handwritten receipt without a copy with an obscure signature. The bundles of cash then went into a wooden drawer and one was left to speculate as to what would happen next with your hard-earned money.

The exit tax is supposed to be an advanced payment of a person's yearly income tax but in reality it doesn't work that way.

When the new government of Abdurrahman Wahid came into being we of course hoped for the abolishment of this grossly obscure, unjust exit tax be made one of the top priorities of the reform agenda. However, after six months there is nothing in the air that hints this is going to happen soon and the money spinning "machinery" at the airport continues happily. Are Mrs. Tuty and I only the ones who are complaining about this business?

MRS. CONNY GAFAR

Ciputat, West Java