Jakarta to delay Warteg tax

Jakarta administration has decided to revise the expansion of a levy ruling on restaurants, to include small eateries known locally as warteg, adding that the new ruling would only be imposed next year.

“We are still deliberating the revision of the policy. We will only apply the levy on small eateries in 2012,” Jakarta Tax Office Agency chief Iwan Setiawandi said as quoted by beritajakarta.com.

Previously, the administration announced plans to impose levies on warteg, canteens, and cafeterias whose daily turnover was equal to or more than Rp 500,000 (US$55.50) or Rp 182.5 million per year.

Initially, it planned to tax every establishment whose daily sales total was Rp 167,000 or more, but the plan received mounting opposition from various parties, including the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), which said the policy would hurt low-income businesses.

Iwan said the administration had responded to opposition and revised the policy to tax those with a higher income.