Mar'ie Muhammad's High Guts: The Story Of The Director General Of Taxes Who Dare To Collect President Soeharto's Taxes

JAKARTA - Indonesia once had a Director General (Dirjen) of High Courage Taxes. Marie Muhammad, his name. He dared to clean up the tax office from corrupt employees. This condition made Marie feared those who wanted to collect state money.

As a result, Mar'ie was able to carry out his position well. All kinds of challenges related to tax collection did not make him afraid. He dared to speak arbitrarily to the mass media. Instead of Mar'ie being able to tax the rich, he actually dared to ask and calculate President Suharto's taxes.

A large country is a country that has a good and neat tax system. The narrative is because the largest state income instrument is not uncommon from taxes. Moreover, in Indonesia. The problem is that Indonesia's condition towards the end of the New Order (Orba) era is not doing well.

Corrupt officials are hoarding. Entrepreneurs who are busy outsmarting taxes are not small. There are not many participants of individual taxpayers. This condition makes tax withdrawal efforts not easy. However, that doesn't mean you can't. President Soeharto once targeted income from taxes to increase when entering the 1992-1993 era.

The target is IDR 9 trillion. This difficult target made Suharto appoint Marie Muhammad as Director General of Taxes from 1988. Marie himself is not a new person in the world of politics. he is a former student activist in the 1966 era as well as an economist.

He understands very well all kinds of financial problems in Indonesia. Marie also answered Suharto's challenges optimistically. Marie is a bit arbitrary when he talks. He answers all kinds of media questions loudly. Even though many view Mar'ie's leadership as pessimistic.

Mar'ie was not afraid. He tried to answer all the criticisms. He started cleaning the tax office. Thousands of tax employees who have the potential to be corrupt will be removed immediately. This condition allows him to work optimally.

He began to look at individual tax payments. He looked seriously at the growth of many officials, businessmen, and rich people. They are prospective taxpayers who must be worked on. Not only from income tax. However, from other incomes.

"No less important than that is the fact that tax revenue is the largest post of Government revenue (RAPBN 1992-93). The burden will be borne by around 35 million taxpayers, the amount that should be greater, considering that Indonesia's population is 180 million. If the number of taxpayers can be increased, of course the government's tax acquisition will be even greater.

Yang kini terlihat justru Pemerintah berhati-hati -- kalau tidak mau disebut enggan -- untuk menambah jumlah pembawa wajib wajib. Tak jelas benar sebabnya. Mungkin sekali karena Pemerintah ingin memperlebihatikan fungsi pajak yang dua ini, yaitu memperintahkan pengeluaran Pemerintah dan mempertahankan laju pertumbuhan ekonomi. Sedangkan untuk mewujudkan fungsi sosial pajak, misalnya dalam mengurangi percambangan antara penduduk makinya dan miskin, Pemerintah menunggu rencana yang lebih matang, ungkap Isma Sawitri dalam tulisnya dimajalah Tempo bertulukul Kejarlah Kejarlah Pajak, Kau Kutangkap(1992).

Mar'ie's tax withdrawal is never indiscriminate. He was never afraid to charge anyone. He dared to collect official taxes. He also dared to collect taxes from the rich. The narrative that made Mar'ie's name predicted as the future Minister of Finance (Menkeu) was the courage to collect President Suharto's tax.

Mar'ie deliberately asked to meet directly with President Soeharto. Both spoke about the high tax target. Mar'ie also explained that increasing taxpayer participants is not easy. The people, especially entrepreneurs, need an example of a leader who is obedient to paying taxes.

Marie also plans to collect Suharto's tax. He asked Suharto for permission to calculate the Suharto Land Building Tax (PBB). In particular, Suharto, who is usually difficult to negotiate, did not refuse.

Mar'ie came to Cendana with his team to calculate Suharto's taxes. He even brought his own benchmarks to measure the size of the building.

All of this is in order to get the right figures regarding taxes that need to be paid by the number one Indonesian. The amount of Suharto's tax payments is not distributed to the public. However, Marie's success in collecting Suharto made the number of those who are taxpayers increase sharply.

The target, which was initially only Rp9 trillion, could increase to Rp19 trillion outside of gas and petroleum. This achievement recently made Suharto appoint Marie as Minister of Finance (Menkeu) in the 1993-1998 era. Minister of Finance in the 2014-2025 era, Sri Mulyani even considered Marie Muhammad as the best Minister of Finance that Indonesia had ever had.

Mar'ie's simplicity was seen when he was Director General of Taxes in 1988-1993. This position did not necessarily make him living a luxurious life. His car is still Peugeot out in 1982. The alumni of the UI Faculty of Economics, who is usually called the ustad, has a simple principle, as a servant from the community, is not polite if he asks to be served. Therefore, the man who was born in Surabaya on April 3, 1939 did not ask for various facilities. He prefers to show performance.

"In addition to being simple, Mar'ie is also known to adhere to principles. It doesn't matter if the president or employer, about the obligation to pay taxes, there are no exceptions. At least, as long as I am the Director General, said Mar'ie. Therefore, when Mar'ie was the Director General of Taxes, the tax acquisition exceeded the target. The tax collected reached Rp19 trillion. Even though the target was only Rp9 trillion, "said Yudi Latif in the book Mata Air Ketadanan: Pancasila in Action (2014).