Employment Sector Anomalies: There Are Many News Of Layoffs, But Taxes From Employees Go Up

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani said that until October 2022 there was a growth in income tax (PPh) article 21 of 21 percent year on year (yoy) from the salary levy of working employees.

According to him, growth is higher than October 2021, which only grew 2.7 percent.

PPh 21 is an employee contribution. This means that there are people who work and do get income which is then deducted by the company to then be deposited with the state as tax payments," he said when meeting reporters through virtual media, Thursday, November 24.

The Minister of Finance explained that the situation is quite inversely proportional to the current conditions which state that many layoffs have occurred by corporations against their employees.

"This is indeed getting a bit awkward when compared to some reports about layoffs," he said.

In detail, the state treasurer explained that the growth of PPh 21 specifically in the October 2022 period was 17.4 percent. As for the third quarter of 2022, it was 26.1 percent, in the second quarter of 2022 it was 19.8 percent and in the first quarter of 2022 it was recorded at 18.8 percent.

"This means that taxes from employees are still growing positively. The government here must respond to various news regarding layoffs in the context of whether there should be changes in policies (in the employment sector) to formulate the right response," he stressed.

For information, until the month of tax revenue has reached Rp1,448.2 trillion. This figure grew 51.8 percent year on year when compared to the same period in 2021 of Rp953.8 trillion.