JAKARTA – The steps taken by the government and DPR, which are currently drafting the Draft Law on National Amnesty, one of which is regarding the tax amnesty, is getting a lot of resistance? Apart from being considered indulging corruptors, tax amnesty is also deemed inappropriate for tax evaders.
Moreover, so far the state has suffered a lot from the rampant flight of illegal funds abroad in order to avoid taxes. The Executive Director of the Association, Prakarsa Setyo Budiantoro, said that the tax amnesty step will drop the government’s authority in the eyes of taxpayers who have been hiding their assets abroad.
According to him, this effort will give the impression that the government is not assertive and easy to negotiate. “What needs to be done now is to take firm action against the transfer pricing actors and tax evaders to create a deterrent effect,” he said, Sunday (18/10).
The government should have formed some kind of tax intelligence group to investigate assets and fund management of companies listed on the stock exchange. “Look at how much turnover, how much taxes. If it is not appropriate then it will be punished, don’t even give it a tax amnesty, “? he said.
Disguised Identity
Secretary General of Transparency International Indonesia, Dadang Tri Sasongko said, based on a study conducted by his institution, “currently there are still quite a number of companies hiding their assets by disguising their corporate identity. This is done to avoid taxes.
According to him, the illegal funds that came out of Indonesia, or so-called illicit, were much bigger than any corruption case in Indonesia. “This is more powerful than corruption. Moreover, financial crimes are becoming more and more sophisticated,” he said.
Based on Global Financial Integrity data, funds obtained, transferred, and used illegally and legally, but illicitly reached US $ 187.8 billion during the 2003-2012 period. Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia estimates that illegal funds from all industrial sectors in Indonesia in the last 12 years have reached Rp. 2.190 trillion.
PWYP analysis results in the last two months noted that the flow of funds allegedly originated from hot funds, namely deliberate recording errors and trading via fake invoices. PWYP estimates are based on data on the contribution of gross domestic product (GDP) of all sectors, which is processed through Indonesia’s Balance of Payment and Direction of Trade Statistics belonging to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the period 2003-2014.
PWYP calculations state that the trade in fake invoices for the entire sector is estimated to have reached IDR 1,986 trillion in the last 12 years. Meanwhile, the deliberate mistake of recording reached Rp. 203.39 trillion.
“Illegal funds reach an average of US $ 18.78 billion per year in Indonesia,” said Wiko Saputra, a PWYP Economic Policy Researcher. According to him, this figure made Indonesia rank seventh in the flow of illegal money worldwide in the 2003-2012 period.
Therefore, the government’s plan to implement tax amnesty is considered very inappropriate for corporations that commit crimes in their business. In addition, PWYP encourages law enforcement against tax evasion actors. “The Tax Amnesty Bill will provide legal protection in the form of amnesty for companies. This is very inappropriate, “he said.
A similar sentiment was also expressed by the Coordinator of the Justice Tax Forum (FPB), AH Maftuchan. He rejected the plan to implement a tax amnesty system. According to him, this will prolong financial crime.
He stated that the illegal flow of funds in a number of business sectors, including mining, was a sign that financial and tax crimes were still occurring. “Looking at the practice of tax crimes committed by mining companies, it would be unfair if they were given a pardon,” he said.