Tom Lembong: AMIN Will Target Tax For Rich People To Increase Tax Ratio

Tom Lembong (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The National Team for Winning Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (AMIN) explained the couple's plan to pursue taxes on the rich.

The AMIN National Team Co-Capptain Thomas Lembong said the goal was to increase Indonesia's tax ratio (tax ratio).

According to him, Indonesia's tax ratio is among the lowest compared to ASEAN countries, such as the Philippines which reached 17 percent. Meanwhile, the temporary realization of Indonesia's tax ratio in 2023 is around 10.21 percent.

"To increase this tax ratio, Indonesia must increase tax rates. So, we will pursue an increase in tax rates from people who have large assets, say 1 percent of the richest people in this country," said the man who is familiarly called Tom Lembong quoting Antara.

Tom said the target of increasing the tax ratio of AMIN pairs was conservative, which was 16 percent by 2029.

Thus, he continued, this figure tends to be easier to achieve than the target of other pairs of candidates who are quite ambitious.

The former Minister of Trade and Head of the Investment Coordinating Board added that if the tax ratio is targeted to increase, it is highly ambitious that there will be a possibility of an overall tax rate increase and potentially burdening the middle and lower class.

For this reason, the AMIN pair chose to increase the tax ratio target conservatively, with one way to increase the tax ratio, namely by increasing taxes on the rich in Indonesia. However, at the same time, AMIN will accommodate tax rates in the middle class.

According to Tom, the middle class is a layer of income that is quite vulnerable so that the tax burden must be relaxed.

In the middle class society, the majority are a generation of sandwichs or conditions when a child has started to have a family, but must still bear the financial burden of his parents' lives.

"Usually this generation has only started to get a decent salary, but they have to take care of their parents and also pay their children's school fees," he said.

The Indonesian KPU has also determined three pairs of participants in the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections (Pilpres), namely the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar pair number 1, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka number 2, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md. serial number 3.