T

he Jakarta administration currently has up to Rp 5 trillion (US$368 million) in tax arrears, which have not been paid for decades, according to a city official.

Jakarta Tax Agency head Agus Bambang Setyowidodo revealed that from the Rp 5 trillion, about
Rp 3 trillion were unpaid property taxes from about 500 tax payers.

'€œThere are about 500 taxpayers who have failed to pay their property tax over the years. The 500 taxpayers consist of not only individuals but also firms,'€ Agus told reporters at City Hall recently. He said that the amount of tax arrears has increased over the years.

Agus said that it was common for taxpayers to avoid paying their dues, causing the city administration to always fail to reach tax revenue goals. Last year, the city administration'€™s tax revenue only reached Rp 27 trillion of the targeted Rp 32.5 trillion.

This year, the city targets its tax revenue at Rp 36 trillion, which he said would be difficult to achieve if taxpayers continued to avoid their dues. Of the total targeted Rp 36 trillion, about Rp 8 trillion is property tax.

'€œIt is always difficult to reach the targeted tax revenue because many residents deliberately avoid paying. Therefore, this year we will take a firm stance against those who have avoided paying their taxes,'€ Agus said.

Agus went on to say that the city administration over the years continued to send letters to remind the tax payers of their unpaid taxes, but to no avail. He said that the city administration would cooperate with the Jakarta Prosecutor'€™s Office to summon those who failed to pay taxes over the years.

'€œIn the next few weeks, the city administration and the Jakarta Prosecutor'€™s Office will summons the 500 taxpayers and ask them to pay their dues,'€ he said.

Separately, Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama blamed his predecessors for failing to maximize tax revenues. He said that the previous administrations had not taken tough action against the taxpayers who still owed millions to the city administration.

Ahok vowed to summons tax payers who avoided paying their dues over the years to collect the Rp 5 trillion in unpaid taxes.

'€œThe trillions in unpaid taxes is a '€˜legacy'€™ from previous administrations, which ignored tax arrears. Therefore, we will summons the tax payers and demand that they pay,'€ Ahok told reporters at City Hall recently.

He went on to say that those who still failed to pay taxes after the summons would be jailed for tax evasion.

In December last year, the city administration sealed Mall Epicentrum Walk in Rasuna Epicentrum in South Jakarta. The city administration said at that time PT Bakrie Swasakti Utama, the owner of the property, had yet to pay its taxes for two years in 2013 and 2014 and the tax arrears reached Rp 8.8 billion.