No more Fiscal in 2011

We often heard government officials complaining that there are very few people in Indonesia who wants to register themselves as Tax Payer.

According to the PR Director of the Directorate General of Tax Djoko Slamet, as reported by Kompas, currently there are only 10 mio. citizens who have Tax Payer Identification Number (NPWP), which is very low compared to the the total of 230 mio. population of Indonesia.
In order to attract more people to register as Tax Payer, starting 1 January 2009, the government will not charge owners of NPWP with Fiscal i.e. Fee for going outside Indonesia. On the contrary, those who do not own NPWP will be charged with Fiscal amounting to Rp 2,5 mio. which higher than the previous amount of Rp 1 mio. But, this will only go on until end of 2010, because starting 1 January 2011 the government will not charge Fiscal anymore. Citizens, with or without NPWP, will be free to travel abroad.

In spite of the fact that this is a Real Good News for us, however the plan to stop Fiscal Fee would mean that the government would loose certain revenue. I only hope that such loss would not be compensated by increasing other Tax. Let us keep our fingers crossed!