Tithe and tax reduction

Tithe and tax reduction

It seems that religion (Islam) is now being formalized and
bureaucratized in social life. An example of this is a
stipulation on tax deduction of tithe. Observers and government
officials have reacted positively (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 29,
2001, page 3), while Mrs. Astrid, who may represent the
Christians, agrees to it, adding only that it should also apply
to other religions (the Post, Nov. 23).

It is too optimistic to believe that tax reduction will raise
the proceeds of tithe collection. Let's take tax restitution for
our comparison. Theoretically, businessmen will be eager to apply
for this restitution. In practice, however, only a few have done
so because if you apply for a tax restitution, tax officers will
audit all your book-keeping documents. As a result, the self-
assessment principle does not apply to a tax restitution
applicant. Likewise, when a tithe payer applies for a tax
deduction, his book-keeping documents will also have to be
audited. Otherwise, there will be tax corruption through tithe
payment manipulation.

Komarudin Hidayat does not realize that Muslims are the
majority in this country only in terms of number, not in terms of
quality, capacity, productivity and national asset control.
Therefore, the calculation that Muhammad Akhyar Adnan (the Post,
Dec. 1) has made is rather hard to believe. Please note that
about 70 percent of the money in circulation is in Jakarta. The
World Bank says about 60 percent of Indonesians are poor and most
of them are Muslim. On Warta Ekonomi's list of Indonesia's 200
richest people, only Mohammad Bob Hasan, a crony of the Cendana
family, is a Muslim. It is therefore estimated that 10 percent of
Indonesians control 80 percent of the national assets. Similarly,
most foreign investments in Indonesia come from the United
States, Japan and Western European countries. Very few investors
are from Muslim countries in the Middle East.

If all companies and rich people were to pay their tithe and
or charity and then these payments were used as a tax deduction
factor, 90 percent of poor Indonesians (Muslims) would enjoy only
20 percent of the proceeds, while the other 10 percent (non-
Muslims) would enjoy the rest of the proceeds. As a result, there
will be a gap between Muslims and non-Muslims, which runs
parallel to the indigenous non-indigenous disparity. If the 80
percent charity is donated to Muslims, there will be rumors of
attempts to convert Muslims into Christians, Catholics or even
Buddhists. Eventually, there will be horrifying social turmoil
triggered by ethnicity, religion, racial origin and social
grouping.

M. IKHSAN

Jakarta