JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has huge untapped tax potential with lessthan 3 percent of the nation's 220 million people in possessionof tax identification numbers (NPWP), a tax office official saidover the weekend.
Director of tax services at the Directorate General forTaxation, Djoko Slamet Surjoputro, said currently only around 6million Indonesians had NPWPs, meaning the large majority ofpeople were not paying taxes.
"The country's potential for tax collection is huge. There areonly 6 million registered individual taxpayers. We believe atleast 25 to 30 million more people are eligible to pay taxes andhave NPWPs," Djoko said in Subang, West Java.
"It's not because the procedure to register is complicated,but rather a lack of awareness and honesty that makes many peoplestill unregistered."
Tax revenue accounts for around 70 percent of the government'sannual state budget.
Director General for Taxation Darmin Nasution has said thatthis 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.
Tax revenue in 2007 from the non-oil and gas sector came in atRp 382.22 trillion, derived from the sector's income tax, worthRp 194.7 trillion, value added tax at Rp 155.1 trillion, propertytax of Rp 29.55 trillion and other forms of tax totaling Rp 2.74trillion.
The office collected Rp 176.2 trillion in taxes in 2002, Rp204.15 trillion in 2003, Rp 238.98 trillion in 2004, Rp 298.34trillion in 2005, Rp 358.05 trillion in 2006 and Rp 426.23trillion in 2007. (rff/**)
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