12 Percent Tax Increase Controversy, Government Asked To Prepare Scheme To Protect Intermediate Groups

Illustration of workers in Jakarta/ Photo: Bitor Ekin Putra

JAKARTA From various circles, the government is asked to postpone and even cancel the plan to increase taxes by 12 percent in 2025. People's purchasing power is predicted to decrease if the tax increase is 12 percent later.

Public policy observer and economist Achmad Nur Hidayat from Veterans National Development University (UPN) hopes that the government will postpone the tax increase by 12 percent. According to him, there will be turmoil, especially in the middle economy.

The middle class community will feel more about the impact of the 12 percent tax increase. Yes, they can suffer more from this policy. " said Achmad Nur Hidayat, through an online connection, Tuesday, December 3, 2024.

Achmad views that the lower class community can still survive compared to the middle class.

Because, continued Achmad, the government often helps the lower class with existing programs such as social assistance (bansos) through the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos). Data on social assistance recipients is also stored as a database for social assistance recipients.

However, it is different from the middle class who are considered capable so they do not receive social assistance.

They did not receive social assistance (bansos) because they were considered rich people. Even the data is not available at the Ministry of Social Affairs. Then with their salary increasing by 6.5 percent, they hope to maintain their purchasing power. But once the 12 percent tax is enforced, then 6.5 percent of the UMP increase becomes a 'zone' for them. " explained Achmad.

Achmad assessed that the government should help middle class people whose data is not available at the Ministry of Social Affairs. By raising the tax of 12 percent, it is suspected that the middle class will reduce purchasing power, so that it will automatically have an impact on the retail sector.

The government should postpone the tax increase by 12 percent if it wants to help the community. And extend the honeymoon. Because Pak Prabowo is still on his honeymoon with the people. If the tax is raised next year, a scheme is needed to help the middle class. "explained Achmad.