Prabowo Will Separate Taxes And Customs From The Ministry Of Finance

Read President Prabowo Subianto (Photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - Presidential Candidate (Capres) Prabowo Subianto said he would reshuffle the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) if he was elected President in the 2024 presidential election. The reshuffle that will be carried out is to separate the Directorate General of Taxes and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise from the Ministry of Finance.

Furthermore, Prabowo said that later these two departments would be merged into one agency, namely the State Revenue Agency. He said, this concept has been implemented by other countries that separate policy makers and tax collectors.

"Indeed, we, frankly, are a country, as a nation, we need to dare to learn from the experiences of others and in many places in developed countries, it is a bit separated between politics, the Ministry of Finance and tax collection and revenue collection," he said at Sarasehan 100 Economist Indonesia, in Jakarta, Wednesday, November 8.

He said, this concept is being discussed by a team of experts who help his party. Starting from studies, simulations to comparative studies with countries or other parties who have implemented this concept.

"So of course we hope that at the time we are given a mandate, to encourage immediate work. So maybe there is a lesson that elections in February will then be inaugurated in October so that the preparation and transition period may take quite a long time, "he said.

Increase State Revenue

Prabowo saw an opportunity to increase state revenue if the State Revenue Agency was formed. In fact, he said that the formation of the agency would increase the ratio of state revenue to 20 percent of GDP.

Currently, continued Prabowo, the revenue to GDP ratio is still at 11.8 percent as of 2021. Meanwhile, the tax to GDP ratio is still at 9.1 percent.

According to Prabowo, good management in the department of the Director General of Taxes and the Director General of Customs and Excise of state revenues can be improved with IT and so on.

"We can calculate 8 percent of the 1,500 billion dollars, the increase is quite significant, brothers and sisters, hundreds of billions of dollars additional our budget. And with that, we can invest in not only self-sufficiency in food, I'm sure we can become a world food barn," Prabowo said.