Gerindra Understands That State Finances Are Heavy, But Basic Food Taxes Are Not Directly Proportional To Efforts To Improve The Welfare Of The People

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Gerindra Party Faction DPR RI Ahmad Muzani asked the government to reconsider if it wanted to impose a value added tax (PPN) on the people's basic necessities (sembako) sector, which is planned to be regulated in the revision of Law Number 6 of 1983 concerning General Provisions and Tax Procedures (KUP).

According to him, this includes the plan to apply taxes to health services, education, and some basic necessities, because it makes it more difficult for the people.

"We understand very well the state's financial situation is difficult, especially in a situation like the current pandemic, which causes the tax target to not be achieved, resulting in a deficit in state revenue," Muzani said in a statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Monday, June 14.

He considered that if the solution to the state's financial situation is to tax the people's basic needs and real people's activities, such as rice, sugar, salt, fish, meat, vegetables as well as health and education services, it will actually burden the people even more.

Because of that, he assessed that efforts to increase tax revenues are not directly proportional to efforts to improve people's welfare.

Muzani suggested that the government apply a new tax object to activities or goods that are not a priority for the people's needs, for example applying a tax object to mining, plantation and other corporate activities.

"The implementation of the new object is an effort to ease the burden on state finances and also significantly increase tax revenue," he said.

The Secretary General of the Gerindra Party DPP also reminded that the government must evaluate every financing for state needs so that there is no waste. In addition, according to him, the government needs to cover the possibility of leakage of the state budget in each of its financing.

"Then, against the increasingly heavy financial burden, Gerindra suggested that the government tighten costs that are considered wasteful, including closing the possibility of budget leaks, and cutting costs that are considered unnecessary," he said.

Previously, the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani emphasized that the current government was still focused on restoring the economy so that she deeply regretted the uproar in the community regarding the issue of staple food being subject to VAT.

"The government really uses the State Budget instrument because our goal is economic recovery from the demand side and supply side," Sri Mulyani said at the Commission XI Working Meeting of the DPR RI, in Jakarta, Thursday, June 10.

He explained that the draft KUP Bill had just been sent to the DPR but had not yet been discussed, so it was very regrettable that there was a commotion about the issue of imposing VAT for basic necessities.

Moreover, according to him, the draft of the KUP Bill was leaked and it was released to the public with aspects that were cut off and not in full, causing a "clumsy" condition.