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Tax amnesty is a right, not obligation: President
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo addresses journalists at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in Serpong, Tangerang, on Aug. 30. (JP/Anton Hermansyah)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has highlighted that every tax payer has a right, and are not obligated to join the tax amnesty program. Thus pensioners, farmers, and other low-income people do not have to report their undeclared assets.
"The tax office has issued the directorate general’s regulation on this issue, so farmers, fishermen, pensioners do not have to join the program," he said at Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in Serpong, Tangerang, on Tuesday.
Earlier, people expressed their worries through social media over the possibility that all tax payers who had yet to declare their assets—including low income people, pensioners, farmers, and recipients of inherited wealth—had to join the program.
By joining the program, they could avoid the future penalty, which amounted to 200 percent of the value of undeclared assets. However, as stipulated in the Tax Amnesty Law, they must pay a penalty rate, ranging between 2 to 10 percent of the asset’s value.
The President said the tax amnesty program was mainly targeted at big taxpayers who parked their assets abroad to evade tax liabilities. If low-income people forget to list their assets, they could revise their annual-tax assessment (SPT) to avoid the future penalty, he explained.
"Please do not make a buzz on such unimportant issues. Focus on how to make this program successful," Jokowi said. (ags)
