Sri Mulyani Regrets The Furore About The Staple Food Tax: Blown Up As If Not Paying Attention To The Current Situation

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

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati emphasized that the current government is still focused on restoring the economy so that she deeply regrets that there is a commotion in the community regarding the issue of necessities that will be subject to Value Added Tax (VAT).

"It was blown up as if it didn't pay attention to the current situation. We really use the APBN instrument because our goal is economic recovery from the demand side and supply side", he said in a working meeting with Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, quoted from Antara, Friday, June 11.

Sri Mulyani explained that the draft Law on General Provisions and Tax Procedures (KUP) had just been sent to the House of Representatives but had not been discussed, so it was unfortunate that there was a commotion about the issue of imposing VAT for basic necessities.

Moreover, according to Sri Mulyani, the draft of the KUP Bill was leaked and spread to the public with truncated and incomplete aspects, causing conditions to become awkward.

"The situation became a bit awkward because it turned out that later the documents came out because they had been sent to the DPR as well. What came out was piecemeal", he said.

However, he said the government was still unable to explain in detail about this issue because from a political ethics perspective there had been no discussion with the House of Representatives.

"From the point of view of political ethics, we cannot explain before this is discussed. Because this is a public document that we have submitted to the Indonesian House of Representatives through the President's letter", he said.

He explained that the KUP Bill was read first in a plenary session which would then be discussed with Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives regarding all its aspects from the time to the tax imposition target.

"We will present it all and we will present it in full by sector, by economic actors, why did we lower the article, what kind of background is it. We want to discuss all of that later in full with Commission XI", he explained.

Sri Mulyani also ensured that currently the government was still mapping the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the community, including MSME entrepreneurs.

"Until today, we have also been asked to think about MSMEs that have a slower rise. So our focus is to restore the economy", he said.

This is in line with the government's agreement to restore the state budget while maintaining the momentum of recovery in line with the construction of economic and taxation foundations so that they remain strong going forward.

"Of course I also apologize because surely all from Commission XI as our partners why there is a policy as if it has gone up even though it hasn't", he said.