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51-year-old South Jakarta resident has three cars: An old-fashioned Jaguar, a Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a Toyota Fortuner. But to avoid the expensive progressive tax, not all three are registered in his name. One of the cars is registered in his niece’s name.

For the 2000 Jaguar, he has had outstanding tax payments of Rp 14 million (US$991.80) for the past two years. He said he often forgot to pay because of work and he did not plan to pay in the future as he rarely used the car. The car only sits in his garage and is used only for special occasions. “I can afford the cars, but I want to save up some money too,” he said.

The car is among thousands of vehicles roaming the city streets with billions of rupiah in outstanding tax. The Jakarta Tax and Levy Agency (BPRD) does not intend to let them slide easily.

The agency plans to visit vehicle owners at their homes and tell them to pay up. To cash in more tax money, the agency will also turn to technology by hunting vehicles with tax arrears through CCTV monitoring.

The agency has recorded Rp 178.5 billion in tax arrears from 13,515 vehicles including cars, motorcycles, trucks, minibuses and heavy equipment that have not paid their tax. Half of the outstanding tax is from 2,667 luxury cars, with a total amount of Rp 89 billion in arrears, each luxury car owing more than Rp 20 million.

“We will work with the Jakarta Communication and Informatics Agency to track tax-evading vehicles through CCTV monitoring across Jakarta,” BPRD acting head Faisal Syafruddin said.

Before carrying out a home visit, the agency will first send a notification letter to the vehicle owner. If it receives no response, the officers from the agency will then go to the home address.

The measures are part of the agency’s efforts to bolster tax payments. As of Feb. 13, tax realization from vehicles stood at Rp 995 billion out of the target Rp 8.8 trillion this year, while for vehicle ownership transfer fees the agency recorded Rp 569 billion of the Rp 5.4 trillion target.

However, Faisal admitted that it was not an easy task as several owners used other people’s identities to evade tax. A recent case involved low-income people living in a narrow alley in West Jakarta, who were registered as owners of luxury cars including a Bentley Continental GT worth Rp 8 billion, a Toyota Harrier and a Mercedes-Benz. Besides having their identities used without consent, some were also sent letters notifying them they had unpaid tax for the cars they didn’t actually own.

To clamp down on such evasion, the authorities have blocked the vehicle registration documents in the hope that the real owners show up and pay the tax arrears.

CCTV measures to track vehicle tax evaders might work for Jakarta, but it would be more effective if the BPRD cooperated with the Jakarta Police for law enforcement, Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis executive director Yustinus Prastowo said.

According to the 2009 Traffic and Road Transportation Law, STNK and vehicle ownership documents are valid for five years and must be reported annually to confirm tax compliance. If taxes are unpaid, the authorities can fine drivers and seize their vehicles.

“The administration should submit the data to the police to chase them. This should bridge the existing authority gap between the administration collecting the tax and the police carrying out law enforcement,” Yustinus said.

He added that the police’s role had been less visible because cars in arrears could roam the street when there were no raids.

Head of the vehicle registration unit at the Jakarta Police’s Traffic Directorate, Com. Arif Fazlurrahman said the police were not aware of the tax office’s plan. So far, the police only use CCTV cameras in the Electronic Traffic Law Enforcement system, which are not related to the Communication and Informatics Agency.

Arif explained that ownership data at the Vehicle Document Registration Center and the Population and Civil Registration Agency had actually been integrated since 2014.

However, to find out the real owners of vehicles with outstanding tax is tricky.

“That is beyond our ability because the registered identity is the one in our data. They are legally the rightful owner. We’re not suspicious even if someone living in a village has a Porsche,” Arif said. (ggq)