Post Office levy

Post Office levy

In my letter (Post Office levy, The Jakarta Post, July 5, 1994) about a horrendous levy on a videocassette sent to me from England, I promised to let readers know the outcome of my complaint to the Post Office.

My wife, being Indonesian and therefore better able to argue about such things than I am, was able to see a fairly senior official at the Main Post Office, who explain that the levy of Rp 29,678 was indeed correct. Under some recently introduced regulation, it appears that a videocassette will attract Import Duty + VAT + Luxury Tax, regardless of the content--it could even be a blank! So my advice to readers is to be wary about having videocassettes sent from abroad, since Indonesian taxes will just about double their cost.

RB SAWREY-COOKSON

Jakarta