The tax office said Thursday it would strive to significantly raise tax revenue this year in an attempt to increase the country's coffers.
Finance Ministry Director General of Taxation Darmin Nasution told a press conference that this year his office aimed to collect Rp 523.85 trillion (US$56.57 billion) in taxes -- a 26.6 percent increase from Rp 426.23 trillion in 2007.
"We will intensify our efforts by all means to acquire more tax revenue this year," he said.
The 2007 tax revenue from the non-oil and gas sector came in at Rp 382.22 trillion, derived from the sector's income tax, worth Rp 194.7 trillion, value added tax at Rp 155.1 trillion, property tax of Rp 29.55 trillion and other forms of tax totalling Rp 2.74 trillion.
Darmin said the rate of tax revenue collected in 2007 was only about 98.5 percent of the expected revenue set in the revision of the 2007 state budget.
However, he added, the amount of revenue collected by his office had been increasing since 2002.
The Directorate General of Taxation secured Rp 176.2 trillion in collected taxes in 2002, Rp 204.15 trillion in 2003, Rp 238.98 trillion in 2004, Rp 298.34 trillion in 2005, Rp 358.05 trillion in 2006 and Rp 426.23 trillion in 2007.
"The numbers show that our performance has improved. Last year, if we compare the figure to the country's inflation rate and growth domestic product, we recorded a 8.09 percent improvement in terms of performance," said Darmin.
Tax revenues accounted for around 70 percent of the country's revenue last year.
Meanwhile, tax refunds drastically increased in 2007 to Rp 12.78 trillion, about a 67 percent increase from Rp 19.1 trillion in 2006.
The increase, he said, was a result of delayed payments of tax refunds from previous years.
Also at the press conference, Darmin said that under the tax law on sunset policies, taxpayers who registered themselves at the office in 2008 would receive compensation.
The compensation will include the elimination of interest rates on unpaid taxes.
"I expect that people will put this opportunity to a good use," he said.
Regarding the government's plan to subsidize some key staple foodstuffs, Darmin said the state budget allocated Rp 4.9 trillion for compensation for those who lost revenue because of the lifting of value added taxes on wheat, flour and cooking oil, starting from this month.
In the fourth quarter of 2007, the government provided Rp 300 billion in subsidies for unbranded cooking oil -- which is usually sold in traditional markets -- and this year will also subsidize branded cooking oil.
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