Soaring Prices: Coal Businessman CS Set to Face Windfall Tax!
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - House Commission XI is pushing the government to start implementing a windfall tax scheme, amid the significant potential for rising prices of several of Indonesia’s key export commodities in the global market due to the effects of the Iran-US and Israel war in the Middle East region.
Chairman of House Commission XI, Mukhamad Misbakhun, stated that the war is not only driving up global crude oil prices, which is one of Indonesia’s main import commodities. Rather, it is also affecting Indonesia’s main export commodities, such as crude palm oil (CPO) prices, nickel, coal, aluminium, copper, gold, coffee, and rubber.
“Of course, we can prepare the government for a windfall tax scheme,” said Misbakhun on the Squawk Box CNBC Indonesia programme, Tuesday (7/4/2026).
Misbakhun explained that the windfall tax scheme, applied to tax the windfall profits of commodity exporters, is important as a support for state revenues from the tax side.
This is particularly because the current state revenue needs are increasingly high to compensate for spending pressures from the energy subsidy side, as subsidised fuels like Pertalite have been set by the government not to rise despite soaring global crude oil prices, in order to maintain people’s purchasing power.
“Of course, this must be discussed together with the business associations, sectorally, partially, that at a certain price level, when it is called windfall and then how many percent it is imposed. This also creates potential beyond the normal,” stated Misbakhun.
Through the windfall tax policy scheme, the Ministry of Finance, he said, will later have room to keep the state budget deficit within safe limits under the State Finance Law, namely 3% of gross domestic product (GDP). He stated that the state budget deficit would only move up by 0.2 percentage points, from the target of 2.68% throughout this year to 2.88%.
“Well, this will certainly provide strengthening to state revenues that can offset the impact of fuel price increases, then we cover it from revenues from sectors experiencing price surges that we usually call windfall,” explained Misbakhun.
“If we can exercise this well, I am confident that our state budget will have stronger resilience and there will be no need for excessive worries that we will face pressures,” he emphasised.
It is important to note that windfall tax is not a new term in the taxation world. Based on an article on the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) website of the Ministry of Finance titled “Windfall Tax: Its Impact on the Coal Industry”, windfall tax is a form of special tax imposed on unexpected or beyond-estimate income obtained by a particular industry or company.
The implementation of this tax aims to capture excessive profits obtained from sudden favourable changes in commodity prices or market situations. By imposing tax on this unexpected profit, the government can obtain additional funds for various development needs, infrastructure, or social programmes.