Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said Sunday he did not support a Facebook group that was pushing for a boycott of tax payments in a protest against recent corruption by tax officials.Sofjan said he could understand the community’s disillusion at recent corruption among tax officials, but called on taxpayers to abide by the law and continue to pay taxes.
“All over the world people need to pay taxes because all countries need money to finance development,” Sofjan said as quoted by Antara during a fun walk on Sunday.
The group decided to promote its boycott online using the Facebook social networking site as a platform, following the revelation of a tax official's involvement in a Rp 25 billion ($2.75 million) corruption case.
The Finance Ministry official in question, Gayus Tambunan, was fired following the revelation of his fraud.
Sofjan also suggested the Finance Ministry continue with its tax reforms, to restore taxpayers’ confidence in it.
“We have actually built trust in the tax office, but because of the acts of one or two people we now have a feeling that that some of the tax money we paid is not used for development, but for personal use,” he said.
Sofjan urged the tax office to restore its image that had been tarnished by the recent corruption case.
“The image of tax officials, which has been not so good for a long time, has to be improved. Strict punishments are the only way to improve their image,” he said.
source: thejakartapost
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