Taxes and illegal fees

Taxes and illegal fees

The draft state budget for fiscal year 2004 predicts a
decrease in state revenues from 17.3 percent to 17.2 percent as
well as in state spending from 19.1 percent to 18.4 percent. It
also states that revenues from taxes are likely to increase from
13.1 percent to 13.5 percent.

The present state budget shows that Indonesia's due debt
stands at Rp 44.279 trillion and debts for rescheduling at Rp27
trillion. Next year, however, Indonesia will face maturing debts
worth Rp 44.891 trillion due to its decision to sever its ties
with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) later this year.

The question is whether or not the directorate general for
taxation is capable of achieving the target, as stated in the
draft state budget.

The problem is if tax revenues continue to increase, the
business climate is likely to become gloomy because besides
paying tax, companies are often forced to pay illegal fees as
well.

Thus, if the government intends to make taxes as the primary
source of state revenues, illegal fees should be scrapped.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta
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OthersOp-security-law
Indonesia's security law
JP/6/law

Indonesia's security law

Powerful arguments are being raised in Indonesia's ruling
circles in favor of a punitive security law that its advocates
say is necessary to prevent terrorist acts. It will permit
preventive detention of persons regarded as threats to state
security, an old law with which Singaporeans and Malaysians are
familiar. The development is inevitable - after the two ruinous
explosions in Bali and Jakarta and numerous smaller blasts all
over the country in the past three years, ascribed to terrorist
groups and political activists seeking independence for Papua and
Aceh.

When the chief proponents of the law are the defense minister
and the coordinating minister for security, and they have the
backing of the country's military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto,
it is a reliable bet that the proposal will surface formally
soon. It could be bound for parliamentary approval.

Those of Indonesia's neighbors with a direct stake in its
anti-terrorism campaign - Singapore and Malaysia - will welcome
any tightening of its security structure that would help disrupt
terrorist plots and recruitments. If it can be accomplished with
the sort of legal muscle being sought, there should be no
squeamishness about acquiring it.

The military and the police need to show the law will not be
used to silence government critics and activists. President
Megawati Soekarnoputri would be the last person to underestimate
the democratizing instincts that the Indonesian people have
acquired after 32 years of president Soeharto's rule, which ended
in wild disorder in May 1998.

Under the next two presidents, B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman
Wahid, hundreds of prisoners were freed in presidential
amnesties. The irony is that the repeal in 1999 of Mr. Suharto's
anti-subversion law will have come full circle if the current
President puts down her imprimatur on an updated version. But
these are perilous times.

-- Straits Times, Singapore