Unknown Dewi listed as largest taxpayer
Unknown Dewi listed as largest taxpayer
JAKARTA (JP): Sinta Dewi Sampoerna of the East Java-based Sampoerna Group surprisingly topped the list of the 200 largest individual taxpayers in 1993, surpassing tycoon Soedono Salim, the chairman of the Salim Group.
On the corporate level, the state-owned telecommunication companies, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and PT Indosat, were listed as the first and second largest corporate tax payers.
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad announced Saturday evening that Salim, popularly known as Liem Sioe Liong and highest on the list in 1992, now ranks second.
The announcement of Dewi Sampoerna as the largest taxpayer came as quite a surprise. Not only is she a new entry on the taxpayer list but her business activities are quite limited compared to the other entries.
"Don't ask me the reason why there is a change in the composition of the 10 largest tax payers and why some people are in the highest bracket," said the minister told regarding the 200 largest individual taxpayers.
Mar'ie said the names of the largest individual taxpayers were determined according to the amount of their income tax payments as written in their tax returns.
"Our tax payment system is based on self-assessment. We have to believe it," he said when questioned about Dewi Sampoerna's rank.
Prajogo Pangestu, the chairman of the Barito Pacific Group who was previously ranked 16th, took third place. Anthoni Salim, the son of Soedono Salim, previously third, ranked fourth and Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, previously in eighth place, came in fifth.
Putera Sampoerna, Dewi's elder brother was in sixth place, much higher than the 17th position he held previously, while Usman Admadjaja, the chairman of Danamon Bank, ranked seventh, as compared to the 13th position he took previously. Andree Halim, a close relative of Soedono Salim comes in eighth, far lower than the fourth place he reached in 1992.
Louis A. Clinton, an executive from the Irian Jaya-based Freeport, is in 10th place.
President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra, who is more popularly called Tommy, took a higher position in ninth place, compared to his 21st place previously. His brother Bambang Trihatmodjo, previously 38th, is now in 11th place, while his eldest brother Sigit Harjojudanto S, previously 30th, now hold a higher position at 23rd. Siti Hediati, one of President Soeharto's daughters, is ranked 169th.
Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the President's eldest daughter, did not appear in the list of the 200 largest individual tax payers as before. Her husband Indra Rukmana, however, climbed a few positions, now in 34th compared to 42nd previously.
The other largest taxpayers included Ciputra, the chairman of the Ciputra Group, who was in 15th (as compared to 25th previously), The Ning King, the chairman of the Argo Manunggal Group, in 16th (39th), Mochtar Riyadi, the chairman of the Lippo Group, in 17th (83rd), Henry Pribadi of the Napan Group, in 18th (12th), Ibrahim Risjad, an executive of the Indocement Group, in 21st (5th), Sjamsul Nursalim of Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia in 22.
Probosutedjo, the chairman of the Garmak Group ranks 25th (70th) and Sudwikatmono an executive of Indocement Group in 26th (7th). Edwin Soeryadjaya, a former executive of the dissolved Bank Summa, came in 30th, and his father William Soeryadjaya was in the 52nd position.
Djuhar Sutanto, also an executive of the Indocement Group, ranks 38th (2nd), Jakob Oetama, the chief editor of the Kompas daily, in 78th (135th), Sukamdani S. Gitosardjono, the chairman of the Sahid Group, in 79th (87th), Tanri Abeng, the president of the Bakri Group was 87th, Rudy Ramli, the president of Bank Bali, 92nd, Faisal Abda'oe, the president of the state oil company Pertamina, in 95th place, Burhan Uray, the president of the Djajanti Group, in 97th, Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of the Bakrie Group, is 99th and Subronto Laras, the president of the Indo Mobil Group, ranks 106th.
Corporate
State-owned Telkom topped the list of the 200 largest corporate taxpayers in 1993, after taking second position in 1992.
Indosat, the provider of international telecommunications services now listed on the New York and Jakarta stock exchanges, dropped from first place in 1992 to second in 1993.
Third place was held by the East Java-based cigarette producer PT Gudang Garam, advancing from sixth position in 1992, while fourth and fifth place were held by state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Dagang Negara. Sixth place was held by Ekspor Impor Indonesia.
The state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, the new comer on the largest taxpayer list, was 7th, and Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna, a cigarette producer in East Java, ranks 8th, much better than 32nd place in 1992.
The 9th and 10th positions were filled by the publicly listed Bank International Indonesia and by the state-owned surveying company PT Sucofindo, which respectively ranked 11th and 16th in the previous year.
Tax Director General Fuad Bawazier, who accompanied the minister of finance during the announcement of 1993's largest taxpayers, admitted that the high ranks did not fully reflect the sizes of the taxpayers' businesses but rather the size of their incomes.
"The people who sold assets or made big transactions probably paid higher taxes than the richer ones," Fuad said.
Both Mar'ie and Fuad did not elaborate on the amount of income tax paid by each of the largest taxpayers.
The finance minister said that the total of the income taxes paid by the corporate taxpayers in Indonesia in 1993 reached Rp 9.83 trillion (US$4.57 billion), of which Rp 3.99 trillion, or around 30.4 percent, was contributed by the 200 largest corporate taxpayers.
Mar'ie said that the portion coming from the 200 largest corporate taxpayers in 1993 was lower than the 38.1 percent share in the previous year, due primarily to the widening of the corporate tax base.
The total income taxes paid by individuals in 1993 reached Rp 4.6 trillion ($2.13 billion), of which Rp 167.37 billion, or 3.6 percent, was paid by the 200 largest individual taxpayers, he said. (hen)