“[Imposing progressive taxes for idle land] is not our priority. We are still studying it,” said Darmin as reported by kompas.com on Friday, but he denied that the government had totally canceled the plan.

Darmin said the government preferred to focus on agrarian reform, land for agriculture and plantations, housing for poor people in urban areas and reorganizing retail businesses.

Early in February, Agrarian and Spatial Minister Sofyan Djalil said the government would soon impose the progressive taxes for idle land as part of the government’s effort to optimize the function of land for people's prosperity.

(Read also: Sofyan Djalil, Sri Mulyani to discuss taxes for idle land)

The policy was to respond to criticism that the majority of the land in the country was controlled by a limited number of rich people, while the majority of farmers only have limited access to agricultural land, forcing most of them into poverty.

Sofyan then said many people bought land for speculative purposes, sparking an increase of land prices and making it too expensive for others.

Darmin said on Friday that the government preferred to prioritize policies that could immediately reduce economic disparity.  (bbn)

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