Jakarta – Seventeen associations have expressed their rejection of the government's plan to impose taxes on plastic, arguing that such a policy would reduce the competitiveness of Indonesian products.
"Furthermore, such a policy would hamper the President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo administration's efforts to boost economic growth through investment," the chairman of a forum of 17 associations of plastic producers and consumers, dubbed FLAIPPP, Rachmat Hidayat, said in Jakarta as reported by kontan.com on Monday.
If plastic taxes were imposed, Indonesia would be the only member of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to have such a policy, said Rachmat.
In addition to the negative impacts on Indonesia's position in international trade, the enforcement of such a policy would also affect the plastic recycling industry, which involves a large number of people. "The collection of plastic taxes will speed up the paralysis of the plastic recycling industry," he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Food and Beverage Producers Association (GAPMMI) head Adhi S. Lukman said such a policy would also seriously affect food and beverage companies that used plastic packaging.
The food and beverage industry was a potential investment target and employed a large number of workers, in line with government programs, said Adhi.
The industry involves 6,000 big players and one million small and medium players, involving four million workers, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). "The collection of plastic taxes would certainly push up the prices [of foods and beverages]," Adhi added. (bbn)