Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – A Jakarta city councilor disagrees with a plan from the Jakarta administration to increase vehicle tax by 15 percent as part of measures to control the growth of vehicles in the capital.

"It is better for the city administration to reduce the number of vehicles by prohibiting old vehicles like those that have been used for 15 or 20 years from running on city roads," said Abdul Ghoni, a member of Commission C overseeing tax issues, in Jakarta on Friday.

"The people are already burdened with high vehicle tax. Therefore, in an effort to increase city revenues, the city administration needs to improve its online tax payment system and improve the capability of its tax officers," Abdul added.

Instead of increasing taxes, the city should improve road infrastructure so that taxpayers will obediently pay their taxes, he added.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Tax Agency head Agus Bambang Setyowidodo said the plan to increase the tax by between 10 to 15 percent was an important measure because the city was already overcrowded and burdened with sever traffic congestion.

"Every day, there are 300 to 400 purchases of cars in the city," he added. He said his office was now finalizing a draft bylaw on the issue. "People who can buy cars are people who have money. It's not a problem if we burden them with higher taxes," Agus said as reported by beritajakarta.com.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/25/increase-in-vehicle-tax-unnecessary-councilor.html