More rich people means more tax income: Hatta

The government has welcomed Forbes’ latest rich list, which named five newcomers dubbed as Indonesia’s billionaires.

Forbes magazine released Thursday its latest list of Indonesia’s richest people, in which Aburizal Bakrie saw his rank slip from within the top 10 to number 30.

The list included newcomers Achmad Hamami, the owner of local Caterpillar distributor Tiara Marga Trakindo, with a net worth of US$2.2 billion; Djoko Susanto, whose $1.04 billion fortune was made from PR Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, the retail giant operating 5,500 stores under the Alfamart, Alfamidi and Lawson brands; and Kuncoro Wibowo, the owner of PT Ace Hardware Indonesia, the country’s biggest home improvement retailer, with $730 million.

“We have to be grateful [for the news], but of course we also want more Indonesians to be able to benefit from that,” Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said Friday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Hatta said that, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia still had around 30 million people living in poverty.

“It’s our job to reduce the number. Strong [economic] growth has to be balanced with social aid and protection programs,” Hatta said.

Separately, the Finance Ministry’s directorate general for taxation said it would utilize the Forbes’ list to complete their data.

“We will provide services and supervision, as well as study the potential tax income in accordance with regulations,” the directorate’s spokesman, Dedi Rudaedi, said Friday as quoted by tempo.co.

However, Dedi pledged that the directorate would not reveal the value of the taxes because it would be illegal.