Well tax to increase 500 percent

Well tax to increase 500 percent

JAKARTA (JP): While the controversy about the increase in
vehicle registration fees still rages, the city administration
revealed on Thursday a plan to increase artesian well tax by 500
percent.

Head of the City Mining Agency M. Ali Rozi said the
administration had proposed a bylaw to the City Council to
increase well tax fivefold, from the current Rp 2,500 (about US2
cents) to Rp 12,500 per well.

"It is necessary to increase (the tax) to fund natural
conservation. The digging of the earth to make many wells damages
the environment," Rozi announced at the council building.

He said that with the increase in well tax, expected to be
effective soon, the agency aimed to secure Rp 30 billion from the
tax this year.

Most residents in the city obtain water from artesian wells.

Meanwhile, chairwoman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation
(YLKI) Indah Suksmaningsih regretted the plan to increase the
well tax.

"It will burden the poor," she told The Jakarta Post on
Thursday.

She urged the council to reject the proposal to increase the
tax, saying that people were still suffering due to the
increasing prices of staple foods.

"City officials just collect taxes from the public without
working hard," Indah said. She urged them to instead push city-
owned firms to generate more revenue.

The city administration expects to generate about 70 percent
of the Rp 7.1 trillion target of the 2001 city budget from taxes
and fees while the rest was expected to come from city-owned
companies.

While more than 60 percent of the budget will be used to
finance routine spending, the remaining 40 percent is for
development expenditure. (jun)