Dark times in taxation sector now over, president says

03/19/09 06:25

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked all sides to let the dark times of taxation in the past be bygones and to enter an era where taxation is managed through a modern administration system.

"In the past, taxation was managed in a way full of uncertainties, reticence and personal deals. We have left that era," the president said when inaugurating a tax service office here on Wednesday.

Yudhoyono said the time had come for Indonesia to enter a new era of a well-organized taxation management through a modern taxation system.

He said the taxation system in Indonesia had undergone basic administrative reforms.

The president also appreciated the increasing state tax revenues which rose from Rp358 trillion in 2006 to Rp426.2 trillion in 2007 and Rp500 trillion in 2009.

The head of state said that the increase in the state tax revenues had enabled the country to carry out development with funds from domestic sources and reduce its dependence on foreign loans.

"It happened in the past when Indonesia faced difficult times after the 1998 economic crisis, where sources of expenditures in the state budget depended largely on foreign loans and the proceeds of privatization (of state companies). Thanks to the hard work of us all, development is now funded with domestic receipts, the state`s income from taxes in particular," he said.

The president also said that the reforms in the taxation administrative system had also provided a sense of justice for taxpayers.

With the increase in the number of personal taxpayers to 11 million following the introduction of the sunset policy, or an increase of 252 percent, the president said that the policy was right.

President Yudhoyono also expressed thanks to taxpayers and businesses that had fulfilled their obligations in paying tax because all this had helped increase state revenues from the tax sector.