Tax cuts won't hurt revenues

Tax cuts won't hurt revenues

JAKARTA (JP): Finance Minister Mar'ie Muhammad was optimistic
yesterday that the proposed income tax cuts will not cause the
government's revenues from taxes to drop.

The minister told members of a plenary session at the House of
Representatives that the decrease in receipts caused by the
planned lower tax rates will be offset by a more intensive tax
collection system.

He said the expansion of the coverage of withheld taxes,
coupled by stronger law enforcement, could offset the possible
fall in income tax receipts.

In his reply to the House members' inquiries about the four
government sponsored tax bills, the minister said that the drop
in income tax rates will not jeopardize efforts to lessen the
dominance of foreign aid in the state budget.

Mar'ie also defended the government's proposal to establish an
independent court to exclusively handle tax disputes between the
government and taxpayers.(hen)

Pay rise ends airline strike

MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP): A 12 percent pay increase Saturday
ended a snap strike by Qantas flight attendants which stranded
about 3,000 passengers.

The pursers, or senior flight attendants, refused to work on
two Qantas Airbuses Friday.

Seven mid-afternoon flights and 3,000 passengers were
affected, Qantas spokesman Mark Williams said

The strike saw passengers stranded here and in Sydney and
Brisbane.

Maurice Alexander, industrial officer for the Flight
Attendants' Association of Australia, said the dispute, which
concerned pay, started in April after Qantas and Australian
Airlines merged.

Quake kills one in China

BEIJING (Reuter): One person died in a stampede and hundreds
of people were injured in China when a strong earthquake rocked
the Taiwan Straits on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency
said on Saturday.

China said the earthquake measured 7.3 on the open-ended
Richter scale, but Taiwan officials said the tremor, felt in Hong
Kong as well, measured 6.4.

In south China's Guangdong province, children in three primary
schools in Raoping county stampeded in terror after the quake.
One person died and 202 people were injured.

Park gets Rp 0.5b mosque

BOGOR (JP): A half billion rupiah (US$230,000) mosque has been
built in the Bogor Botanical Garden, one of the largest botanical
gardens in the country which is also a popular recreation spot.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo led a ceremony
over the weekend to inaugurate the grand, luxurious mosque built
by Yayasan Amalbakti Muslim Pancasila (YAMP), an Islamic charity
foundation chaired by President Soeharto.

The 361-square-meter mosque, billed as the largest mosque ever
built by YAMP, is located on a one-hectare plot of land inside
the botanical park.

The construction cost of the mosque, which is designed to
accommodate 700 worshipers, is Rp 200 million while the remaining
funds will be used to landscape its surrounds, Antara reported.

The head of the park, Suhirman, said the idea to construct the
mosque came from President Soeharto, who was saddened by the
small, dilapidated mosque in the center of the garden when he
visited Bogor three years ago.

Construction of the mosque began in June last year. (bsr)