The government wants to see its tax amnesty plan prioritized for deliberation at the House of Representatives so it can be passed into law this year in an attempt to widen the country'€™s low tax base and boost state revenues.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said Monday that a tax amnesty was among five draft bills the government wished to deliberate with the House to improve state revenues.

These are proposed laws on the tax amnesty, the general taxation system (KUP), income tax (PPh), value-added tax (PPN) and stamp duty. All drafts are listed in the 2015-2019 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) at the House.

'€œThe tax amnesty is our top priority of all drafts that we hope to complete this year,'€ Bambang said in a press briefing, acknowledging that it would be difficult to complete all five drafts at once.

He claimed the tax amnesty would be effective in improving tax revenues, as it targeted rich individual taxpayers, who were less susceptible to economic changes than companies.

'€œBasing our tax forecast on companies may not be sustainable, because companies are heavily dependent on economic development,'€ he said.

As reported earlier, the amnesty will offer incentives in the form of redemption rates that will be set at 2 percent and 5 percent only on tax arrears that must be paid by the evaders within a certain period of time.

It is currently still a draft bill that needs to become a bill and then pass into law within this year through deliberations at the House of Representatives, so it can be implemented shortly afterwards.

The government is hoping to see around Rp 4.1 quadrillion (US$294.22 billion) enter the national financial system once the amnesty is implemented, funds that could prove vital in its efforts to develop infrastructure across the country.

Bambang said the government would consider the effect of the tax amnesty in its recalculation of tax revenues in the upcoming revision of the 2016 state budget.

'€œThe standard calculation is based on the previous year'€™s achievement, combined with growth estimates, namely the expected 5.3 percent GDP [gross domestic product] growth rate and 4.7 percent inflation rate,'€ he said.

'€œHowever, we will not just increase it by 10 percent. We will factor in extra efforts from the tax amnesty and asset revaluation policies, among other things.'€

The total tax target is currently set at Rp 1.36 quadrillion for 2016, which is 28.2 percent higher than the Rp 1.06 quadrillion achieved in 2015.

Last year'€™s achievement itself was an increase of 7.7 percent from 2014 and represents 82 percent of the target set in the revised 2015 state budget.

It was the first time that tax revenues had exceeded Rp 1 quadrillion, which included the Rp 20 trillion generated from the asset revaluation policy.

According to Ken Dwijugiasteadi, the acting director general of taxation, as much as Rp 10.6 trillion came from the asset revaluation of several state-owned firms and Rp 9 trillion from private companies.

'€œThe remainder came from individual taxpayers,'€ he said.

Contacted separately, Yustinus Prastowo, the executive director of the Center of Indonesian Taxation Analysis (CITA), lauded the positive results and said they beat CITA'€™s estimate.

However, he bemoaned the tendency to accumulate revenues at the last minute, which he claimed hampered economic growth. '€œThere was a significant increase in revenues in December, but the funds could no longer help boost growth,'€ he said.

Yustinus proposed that the directorate general taxation thoroughly map out tax revenue sources in 2016, so that revenue contribution to growth could be evenly disbursed throughout the year.

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