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Smuggling of luxury cars, motorcycles skyrockets
"The number of luxury cars smuggled into the country has increased to 84 this year from seven in 2018, and the number of luxury motorcycles smuggled has gone up to 2,693 from 127."
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One of the smuggled cars, a green Porsche 911 GT3 RS, is shown to journalists following a press conference at Tanjung Priok Port’s Koja container terminal in North Jakarta on Dec. 18. (The Jakarta Post/Moch. Fiqih Prawira)
T
he smuggling of luxury cars and motorcycles into the country has skyrocketed this year, with the number of vehicles involved increasing by 12 and 21 times respectively.
“The number of luxury cars smuggled into the country has increased to 84 this year from seven in 2018 and the number of luxury motorcycles smuggled has gone up to 2,693 from 127,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The conference was attended by Attorney General Burhannudin, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, National Police chief Comr. Gen. Idham Aziz and vice chairman of the House of Representatives Commission XI Soepriyanto.
Sri said increasing demand for luxury vehicles had apparently caused the significant increase in smuggling. She did not specify the value of the vehicles smuggled in the last two years, but she disclosed that from 2016 to 2019, the total value was estimated to reach Rp 315 billion (US$22.5 million) for luxury cars and Rp 13 billion for luxury motorcycles.
Customs and Excise Director General Heru Pambudi said the potential loss of revenue for the government could reach twice the value of the smuggled vehicles because their import duties and taxes could reach almost 200 percent of the value.
The potential loss of revenue included duties of 40 to 50 percent, luxury goods tax of 125 percent, value added tax of 10 percent and income tax of between 2.5 and 7.5 percent, he said.
Sri said that at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port alone, seven smuggling cases involving 19 luxury cars and 25 motorcycles had been foiled from 2016 to 2019 with an estimated loss of Rp 48 billion in government revenue.
