Sea vehicles excluded in fee conversion of ownership

Sea vehicles excluded in fee conversion of ownership

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Council passed on Friday a bylaw on fees for the
transfer of ownership of motorized vehicles (BBN) that excludes
boats and other water-going vehicles.

The bylaw was passed by a vote because one of the 11 factions
in the council -- the Justice Party faction -- opposed the
regulation.

Forty-seven members of the 85-member City Council attended the
session on Friday and all but three of the councillors -- all
from the Justice Party -- voted for the bylaw.

The chairman of the Justice Party faction, Ahmad Heryawan,
said his faction opposed the bylaw because there was
insufficient explanation as to why boats were excluded.

"They said the amount of money derived from water-going
vehicles was insignificant, but they could not show the data,"
Heryawan said.

He said it was unfair a transfer of ownership fee had to be
paid on vehicles valued at several million rupiah, while luxury
cruise ships valued at billions of rupiah were excluded from the
fee.

The head of the City Revenue Agency, Deden Supriyadi, admitted
transfer of ownership fees on cruise ships, speedboats and jet
skis was significant, but said the ownership of these vehicles
was not properly recorded.

Deden said some 400 small and medium-sized luxury boats were
moored in the waters off northern Jakarta. The price of a small
luxury boat can run over one billion rupiah.

He, however, said the city did not have proper data on the
owners of the boats.

"We do not know who owns the boats, whether they are Jakartans
or people from outside Jakarta," he said.

The United Development Party faction was also unhappy with the
exclusion of boats from the bylaw, but endorsed the regulation on
the condition that a special bylaw for boats be drawn up.

The faction's spokesman, Hamidi A.R, said enforcing a transfer
of ownership fee on boats was important to avoid the perception
that the administration was providing special benefits to the
wealthy.

Vice Governor Fauzi Bowo said he agreed that luxury boats
should be covered by a bylaw, but he added that more research was
needed on the matter.

"We agree with those councillors who want to make a specific
bylaw on transfer of ownership fees for boats," he said.

While luxury boats and other expensive water vehicles are
usually owned by successful businesspeople, military officers,
government officials and legislators, including city councillors,
are also known to own such vehicles.

For example, Audi Tambunan from the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), has dozens of jet skis.

Based on the new bylaw, the fee for the first transfer of
ownership for private and public vehicles is 10 percent of the
selling price, and 3 percent for heavy equipment.

The fee for subsequent ownership transfers for private and
public vehicles is 1 percent of the selling price, and 0.3
percent for heavy equipment.

The fee for the second and all subsequent transfers of
ownership for inherited private and public vehicles is 0.1
percent, and 0.03 percent for heavy equipment.

Deden said the city administration hoped to collect Rp 2.7
trillion from vehicle ownership transfers this year, compared to
Rp 2.5 trillion last year.