Jakarta – The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has lauded President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's move to reduce the annual income tax rate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from 1 percent to 0.5 percent.
The decision, which was made during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, had been a direct response to Kadin's proposal, according to Kadin chairman Rosan Perkasa Roeslani.
"This is very positive. We welcome to government's response to our proposal, which we had made on a number of occasions," Rosan said during Food Security Summit 4 as reported by kompas.com. He said the tax cut would boost the growth of SMEs.
During the Cabinet meeting, President Jokowi initially proposed a 0.25 percent tax rate for SMEs, but Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati argued that the figure was too low.
Under Government Regulation (PP) No. 46/2013, SMEs with a turnover threshold of Rp. 4.8 billion (US$348,480) annually were required to pay 1 percent income tax.
Directorate General of Taxation spokesman Hestu Yoga Saksama said the government would immediately revise related regulations following Jokowi's decision. (bbn)