Three Giant Businessmen Join Indonesia's Tax Amnesty Program
The ambitious tax amnesty program of the Indonesian government received support from three influential Indonesian businessmen. The first, James Riady, Chief Executive of the Lippo Group (and son of Mochtar Riady, the founding father of this huge conglomerate), joined the program by handing over his tax declaration documents to Indonesia's Tax Office on Friday (02/09). This declaration took place in front of an audience consisting of Indonesian press and therefore may cause some momentum for the controversial program that experienced a sloppy start.
The Lippo Group is one of Indonesia's largest conglomerates with a business empire that includes property, healthcare, department stores, financial services, telecommunications, hospitality, news media, IT services and more.
Secondly, businessman Sofjan Wanandi, owner of the Gemala Group and chief advisor of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, also decided to declare his unreported assets. The third influential businessman who has joined Indonesia's tax amnesty program is Tahir, founder of Bank Mayapada International, and who - like many Indonesians - goes by one name. Contrary to Riady and Wanandi, Tahir is yet to hand in his tax declaration. However, he has confirmed that he will join the program.
Riady, Wanandi and Tahir are the first high-profile figures that publicly support the government's tax amnesty program and government officials therefore hope that other high profile figures will take their example (although these three men did not reveal the amount of unreported assets, they did confirm that they will also repatriate their offshore funds into Indonesia). With capital largely clustering at the top of Indonesian society (the country is characterized by high inequality in terms of income distribution), it would significantly boost the program if fellow billionaires join the program. This would be important as the program experienced a disappointing start.
Indonesia's tax amnesty program is a mandatory program for those tax dodgers who have not been fulfilling their tax obligations, for example by keeping (undeclared) offshore funds in so-called tax havens or having undeclared assets at home. A successful tax amnesty program would boost government revenue realization (required to finance the government's ambitious development programs), while the repatriation of funds into Indonesia's financial system can also boost economic growth.
Tax Amnesty Program Indonesia - Score So Far:
| Target (in IDR trillion) |
Per 01 Sep '16 (in IDR trillion) |
Achieved | |
| State Income |
165.0 | 4.32 | 2.6% |
| Declaration of Funds | 4,000.0 | 190.7 | 4.8% |
| Repatriation of Funds | 1,000.0 | 12.6 | 1.3% |
Source: www.pajak.go.id/statistik-amnesti
Poll Indonesia Investments
Do you think that Indonesia's tax amnesty program will be a success?
Voting possible: -
Results
- Yes, I do (50.6%)
- No, I don't (32.8%)
- I don't know (16.6%)
Total amount of votes: 2421
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