REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Finance Minister Chatib Basri said the next government was expected to discuss the separation of the Tax Directorate General from the Finance Ministry.

"Why should it be the next government? It is because it has a great implication. The amendment of a law will take time up to three month. This is the reason from the legal aspect," the finance minister said here on Wednesday night.

Chatib Basri said that the problem of separating the tax directorate general needed to be discussed as the mechanism in Indonesia was different from that in other countries. In the United States for example it was the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) which collected taxes and produced the legal basis on the internal revenue, he said. He said that the IRS was not involved at all in the making of tax policies because its task was merely to collect taxes and cooperate with legal institutions to take legal actions if there were tax dodgers.

"The processes are different from those of the directorate general of tax in Indonesia. The directorate general has the objectives to not merely collect revenues. The IRS has no burden to set a revenue target," he added.

The finance minister added that the directorate general of tax had the burden of setting tax collection targets as the House of Representatives (DPR) suggested that it should have the spirit of continuously increasing tax collections. This is owning to the fact that the financial law of the state stipulates that the budget deficit should not exceed three percent, the minister said.

"So, what should be done with the policy making if the directorate general of tax is separated from the finance ministry and its task is only collecting taxes. We should discuss it first carefully. If Indonesia follows the IRS of the United States the deficit could exceed three percent and it will thus violate the law," Minister Chatib said.

He said that the problem should be seen in the macro coordination aspect. Therefore, the next government which will begin its term of office at the end of the year should discuss it first.

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