Tax Boycott: Parliament Demands Indonesians To Keep Paying Taxes Despite Controversies

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Members of parliament urge Indonesian people to keep paying taxes in the midst of recent controversies involving tax officials. One of the cases involves a 20-year-old son of a top tax official in South Jakarta, Rafael Alun Trisambodo.

Rafael's son savagely attacked a younger boy who was accused of harassing his girlfriend. After the brutal video became viral, the father publicly apologized and voluntarily resigned as a civil servant at the tax office in South Jakarta.

But now Rafael is under scrutiny for his more than Rp50 billion wealth, and he is suspected of being involved in money-laundering. His son was also seen driving an expensive Rubicon.

Separately, there was also a luxurious motorcycle group within the tax office. The group was ordered to be disbanded by Minister for Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati. All these happened during the tax season in Indonesia.

The Parliament apparently detects the netizens' sound and fury, signifying the demand to boycott taxes. The boycott is promptly rebuffed. Member of Commission XI in the Parliament, Hendrawan Supratikno, reminded people that refusal to pay taxes would be illegal.

"It must not be done. The boycott is an action which is not correct according to the law," said Hendrawan Supratikno as reported by state-news media Antara on Thursday.

Commission XI is the partner of the Ministry of Finance. Hendrawan also asked the ministry to socialize their work indicators to the public.

Another member, Puteri Anetta Komarudin, also said the anti-tax movement would disrupt public services. She has noted that taxes are used to give social protection to 161,7 million people.

"The public trust must be recovered, especially the education that tax is handled, supervised, and used for its proper purposes," said Puteri.

The Director General of Tax, Suryo Utomo, also asked the people to keep paying taxes as it is part of a country system. He reminded people to file their income taxes this year.

Analyst from Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA), Fajry Akbar, expressed his sympathy toward the tax officers because Rafael Alun Trisambodo's case has incited hasty generalization.

"Since this RAT case, their mentality has dropped for being generalized as corruptors. In fact, most of them, I am sure are honest and full of integrity," said Fajry on Friday.

Furthermore, Fajry concerned as the tax officers are bullied by people on the social media. He recommend the Ministry of Finance to protect the safety of the tax workers.

Previously, Minister for Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati requested her officers to stop showing off their wealth. 

Also read: How A Tragic Love Affair Reveals Huge Tax Problems in Indonesia

Yusron Fahmi and Ahmad Apriyono contributed to this report.