T

he government will publicly announce a list of tax evaders to improve tax compliance and hunt down a total of Rp 71 trillion (US$7.85 billion) tax receivables that represent potential revenue for the country.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said on Tuesday that the government would first alert tax evaders to their arrears, but if compliance was not forthcoming, their names would be announced in the media.

If the public announcement doesn’t work, the government will also ban tax evaders from going overseas as well as incarcerating them, he added.

“Tax receivables are mostly in income tax, value-added tax and land and building tax. This is being actively followed up by the taxation directorate general,” Agus told reporters.

Tax is the government’s main source of income to be used for development projects, at Rp 878.69 trillion of the overall Rp 1,169.91 trillion state revenues for this year, according to the 2011 revised
state budget.

“Our tax revenues have reached 81 percent now, but tax collection should be continuously increased,” Agus said.

“Taxation director general [Fuad Rahmany] has received commitments from all his subordinates that all employees in the directorate general will conduct their functions with high integrity.”

However, the audited version of the 2010 state budget showed that as of December 2010, tax receivables topped Rp 54 trillion, but Agus said the number might now increase to Rp 71 trillion.

The Finance Ministry, which is responsible for thousands of trillions of rupiah in state funds, has launched a new whistle-blowing website to aid the fight against corruption.

The site is open to the public to report any misdemeanors or unlawful actions by the ministry’s officials from tax, customs and excise offices to capital market watchdogs.

So far this year, the ministry has issued disciplinary sanctions to 434 officials, compared with 890 officials last year.

More broadly, however, many young public officials at government institutions and related bodies still engage in corrupt practices that use state funds for individual benefits, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) has said.

Agus said this practice was most prevalent in regional administrations because of a lack of “understanding of state budget management” so that state funds went into private bank accounts.

Some Rp 7 trillion funds from 6,000 bank accounts have been identified as “rogue accounts” and have been shut down and transferred to state coffers in the past three years because their purposes were unclear, he added.

“Inspector generals at ministries and government bodies must closely pay attention to the existence of wild accounts, identify and handle them,” Agus said.

Separately, Fuad asked all tax officers to banish corruption from all tax offices.

“There should be no more rogue tax officers contaminating this institution,” he was quoted as saying by business portal kontan.co.id.

“We can reach the tax revenue target if our institution is free from corruption.”