“Tax must be Paid,” Says President Joko Widodo

President Joko Widodo accompanied by Minister of Finance, attends the 3rd National Leaders Meeting of Directorate General of Taxes, at Directorate General of Taxes’ Office, in Jakarta, on Tuesday (29/3) morning

President Joko Widodo opened the 3rd National Leaders Meeting (Rapimnas) of Directorate General of Taxes of Ministry of Finance, at Directorate General of Taxes’ Office, in Jakarta, on Tuesday (29/3) morning. On that occasion, the President gave directives to all heads of regional offices in all over Indonesia so that tax revenue target can be achieved.

The President firmly said that “State revenue target is important since it would be used for development. Thus, it needs help,” the President told the journalists.

The President also said that he already visited the office of Directorate General of Taxes twice. “It means, I fully support all apparatus who work in this office. I would like to tell it to all of you,” the President stated.

On that meeting, the President affirmed that all parties must obey all tax procedures, including the enquiries. It shall apply to all people, including the riches as well as politicians. “It applies to all people. If they have not paid, tell them to pay. If they have debt, tell them to pay,” the President firmly said.

Previously, in his directives, the President admitted that he was pleased when receiving a data showing thatout of 37,900 employees, there are 18,900 employees whose age are between 26-40 and many of them master the field of Information Technology (IT).

“It means this office has what it needs to build a perfect IT system that can serve the people,” the President said.

To Work Really Hard

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro, in his remarks, said that the 2016 tax revenue target is not easy to be achieved. He reminded that Directorate General of Taxes cannot work alone although the employees have remarkable spirit to improve their capacities.

“This office does not have any option other than to synergize with all stakeholders including other government institutions,” the Minister said.

The Minister convinced that Directorate General of Taxes will work really hard to achieve the revenue target in the 2016 State Budget. Therefore, the Minister added, there will be extra works.

“We already have most of the data. Our job now is how to use it to ask tax payers to fulfill their obligations,” the Minister said.

The Minister also asked Directorate General of Taxes to reform its institution by keep trying to get the revenue from individual tax payers. He understood that individual tax payers’ awareness to fulfill their obligations is still very low. So, it is the duty of the apparatus to ensure these tax payers have paid their taxes.

“Thus, one day, the structure of tax will be better. Tax revenue from individual tax payers will be bigger which means it will be more stable, because they are not directly influenced by economic condition,” the Minister said.

Besides Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro, on that occasion, the President was also accompanied by Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki, Director General of Taxes Ken Dwijugiasteadi, and Presidential Spokesperson Johan Budi S.P. (DID/FID)(MMB/YM/Naster)