President Jokowi Prepares To Be Disappointed, Plans To 'show Off' The Carbon Tax At The G20 Summit Threatened To Be Canceled

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) is known to continue to delay the implementation of the carbon tax in the country.

Supposedly, the fiscal policy came into effect on July 1, 2022 as stated in Law Number 7 of 2021 concerning Harmonization of Tax Regulations (UU HPP).

Meanwhile, the first delay signal was issued by the Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) Febrio Kacaribu at the end of last June.

"The government is considering reviewing the implementation of the carbon tax in July 2022," said Febrio.

It was stated that the government's considerations at that time involved all existing aspects, including the development of the carbon market, the achievement of the national determination target, the readiness of other sectors, as well as economic conditions.

"Currently, regulations supporting the carbon tax are still being finalized by all ministries and institutions, including the Ministry of Finance," he said.

Furthermore, Febrio had hinted that the carbon tax implementation target had to be implemented before November 2022 in accordance with the important G20 agenda.

“The government continues to make the implementation of the carbon tax in 2022 a strategic policy driver that will be a showcase at the G20 high-level meeting. This showcase also encourages other climate change mitigation actions, such as the energy transition mechanism, which on the one hand is to retire coal-fired power plants early and accelerate new and renewable power plants," explained Febrio.

To note, the G20 meeting in November is the top agenda of the Indonesian Presidency in the Group of 20.

This event itself was attended by heads of state/government from the G20 members as well as invited delegates with the title of a High-Level Conference or Summit.

Most recently, the Ministry of Finance is still reluctant to provide further information regarding when the carbon tax will be rolled out.

In the presentation of the realization of the July 2022 edition of the State Budget on Thursday, August 11 yesterday, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani and her staff chose not to respond to journalists' questions.

The editor then tried to follow up on this matter directly to the Head of BKF Febrio Kacaribu. However, until this news was published, the information in question had not yet been obtained.