Sri Mulyani Confesses To DPR Often 'Terrorized' Netizens: Anything Hijacked

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani dismissed the notion that tax incentives are mostly enjoyed by big entrepreneurs through tax holidays and tax allowances. According to the Minister of Finance, the fiscal incentives provided by the government are even more targeted by the public.

"The majority of tax incentives are enjoyed by the public directly," he said when attending a working meeting with Commission XI of the DPR today, Tuesday, August 30.

The state treasurer detailed that the government's alignment can be seen from the Value Added Tax (VAT) for basic necessities that are not collected reaching IDR 38.6 trillion. Then the elimination of the service sector tax, especially education (school), which was released IDR 20.8 trillion.

Then, there is also a tax levy exemption facility for MSMEs with a potential of IDR 69.7 trillion.

Meanwhile, for tax holidays (related to investment and the development of electric cars), only Rp4.6 trillion was given in facilities last year.

"So we say that in the 2022 fiscal year 43.5 percent of tax incentives are enjoyed by direct households. Then as many as 21.5 percent are facilities to MSMEs. Only 35 percent are enjoyed by the business sector from various scales," he said.

The Minister of Finance gave a more detailed example by explaining that the elimination and reduction of certain MSME taxes amounted to Rp20.6 trillion itself.

"Sometimes I also often on social media, (netizens comment) anything is taxed. Even though they have a lot of community activities which are then not included as a subject to tax," he asserted.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance's statement was conveyed in a series of discussions of the Bill on Accountability for the Implementation (PP) of the State Budget for the 2022 Fiscal Year.

To note, last year's total tax revenue reached Rp1,717.8 trillion or the equivalent of 115.6 percent based on the target of Presidential Decree 98/2022 which targeted a figure of Rp1,485 trillion. This slick score is supported by two things.

First, the implementation of the Voluntary Disclosure Program or better known as tax amnesty. Second, the increase in export-oriented leading commodity prices, such as coal and palm oil (crude palm oil/CPO).