Agnes Anya, Jakarta – Despite an intransigent traffic problem, the Jakarta administration has set a policy that will likely increase the already uncontrolled number of vehicles in the capital as the city is granting an amnesty to vehicle owners who are in arrears with their taxes.
With the regulation, the owners can pay the taxes they owe without facing any of the fines that are usually imposed on late payments. The fines are being forgiven from July 2 until Aug. 2 for motorized vehicle taxes and vehicle ownership transfer fees, respectively better known as PKB and BBNKB.
"The policy is applied for all kinds of vehicles. In other words, no particular requirement is applied," said Jakarta Tax Agency deputy head Edi Sumantri on Wednesday. The policy, he added, is being carried out as an attempt to reach the city's tax income target this year of Rp 32 trillion (US$2.5 billion).
"We learned from last year during which we also applied the same policy. With it, we could book more tax income. Hence, we are doing the same thing this year," Edi claimed, adding that by July 1, tax collection totaled Rp 13 trillion – higher than the Rp 11 trillion collected in the same period last year.
The administration, however, has yet to decide whether it will enforce a similar policy next year, Edi said.
Nonetheless, to reach the aim, the officials will follow up the fine abolishment with vehicle tax raids by teaming up with the Jakarta Police. It will also further enforce tax collection with assistance from municipal administrations.
Some, however, have said they consider the tax pardon to encourage bad habits among vehicle owners and that it will boost the number of vehicles in the capital.
Waiving fines can indeed boost the city's tax income, but if it is carried out frequently without any particular limitation, it will cause a negative psychological impact among owners, said a tax analyst from the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA), Yustinus Prastowo.
"Vehicle owners will ignore paying taxes and wait for the administration to set a similar policy again," Yustinus said.
Transportation observer Darmaningtyas had a similar view. He said the regulation represented "the administration's inconsistency" toward the tangled transportation issue in the capital.
"The regulation will increase residents' interest in buying new vehicles as they do not have to worry about a burdening vehicle tax anymore. They don't need to worry if they pay late because eventually the administration will forgive the fine," Darmaningtyas said.
According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, as of 2014 there were 17.52 million vehicles in Jakarta, 3.27 million of which were private cars, 13.08 million motorbikes, 362,066 buses, 673,661 pickups and 137,859 special vehicles.
The fine waiving has not been the administration's first move that has been deemed as friendly to vehicles, particularly private cars.
Earlier this year, the officials revoked a three-in-one traffic regulation, under which a car must carry at least three passengers to use restricted roads in Central Jakarta, such as Jl. Sudirman, Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat.
The city canceled the policy after the South Jakarta police uncovered child exploitation practices among a group of people who hired themselves out as passengers, people locally called joki.
The controversial measure caused more gridlock in the capital, although the administration claimed the situation remained normal. The city also restricts a number of major roads, like Jl. MH Thamrin, for four-wheeled vehicles only, making more space for road users with private cars.
The administration is now struggling to untangle the capital's traffic jams through several plans. At the end of this month, the administration plans to enforce a policy that will restrict drivers from using the former three-in-one streets on certain days depending on whether their licence plates are odd or even numbered.