Communities Still Affected By Pandemic, La Nyalla Suggests Motor Vehicle Tax Relief

La Nyalla Mattalitti (IST)

JAKARTA - Until now, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still being felt by the community. DPD Chairman La Nyalla Mattalitti hopes that the government will provide additional incentives that can ease the burden on the community.

One of the things proposed by the senator from East Java is tax relief for vehicles, especially motorbikes.

"The government has indeed issued various programs and policies that are in favor of the people. But in this pandemic, people, especially the middle to lower class, still need relief. And one thing that can ease their burden is lightening vehicle taxes," said La Nyalla in a written statement, Friday, April 30th.

It is not without reason that this proposal was submitted by La Nyalla. According to him, the majority who own motorized vehicles are middle to lower class people.

"However, local governments can boost income in this sector through paying taxes to the upper class, through taxes on four-wheeled vehicles, especially luxury cars," he explained.

La Nyalla said, there have been 14 provinces that have granted exemption from motor vehicle tax fines until December 2020. Namely the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY), Central Java, West Java, Banten, Bali, West Sumatra, North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Riau, Aceh, Bengkulu and West Papua.

"Hopefully the program will be continued and can be emulated by other regions, because it can reduce the burden on the community," said the former Head of PSSI.

The chairman of the East Java Chamber of Commerce's Honorary Council assessed that the government's efforts to help the community deal with the pandemic so far have been good enough. Various steps have been taken by the government from the health, social, economic and financial sectors.

The government is noted to have disbursed funds of up to IDR 203.9 trillion for social protection during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Social protection is realized in the form of various programs to ease the economic burden of small communities such as the Family Hope program (PKH), BNPT Staple Food, Cash Social Assistance, Pre-Work Cards, BLT, Village Funds, Productive Banpres for Working Capital for MSMEs, Salary Subsidies, and electricity discounts. .

La Nyalla also appreciated the government's decision to extend the provision of tax incentives until June 2021. The tax relief that is still ongoing is the income tax incentive, including for employees who have an income of under Rp 200 million a year. Then the UMKM tax incentives and VAT incentives.

"I hope that tax relief programs can continue until at least the end of 2021 to give people time to stabilize their economies," he said.