A fat account owned by a former Official Directorate General of Taxation or the Directorate General of Taxes, Rafael Alun Trisambodo and the dissolution of the big motorbike club within the Directorate General of Taxes by Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati has triggered a decline in public confidence in the tax authorities. On the other hand, the case of Rafael Alun Trisambodo and the big motorcycle club has stimulated the discourse on the need for fundamental institutional reform of the tax authority in Indonesia.
The Executive Director PRAKARSA, research and policy advocacy institutes, Ah Maftuchan said, the case occurred because of a lack of internal supervision of the tax authority. Therefore, there is a need for institutional reform of the Directorate General of Taxes so that performance and supervision can be more optimal so that public trust will be higher.
“Institutional reform of the tax authority can be carried out by separating the Directorate General of Taxes from the Ministry of Finance into an autonomous institution under the direct president. In order to make reform of the state revenue authority more comprehensive, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise can also be separated from the Ministry of Finance and merged with the Directorate General of Taxes to become a State Revenue Agency (LPN)," suggested Ah Maftuchan, Thursday (2/3/2023).
The State Revenue Agency is the result of institutional reform of the Directorate General of Taxes and Director General of Customs and Excise. This will influence institutional governance and improve overall tax, customs and excise performance. As a result, state revenue will increase in accordance with the existing potential and public trust in state revenue authorities will increase.
“By being separated from the Ministry of Finance, in general the institutional governance of the Directorate General of Taxes and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise as autonomous institutions can reduce the 'super power' of the Ministry of Finance because it separates the authority for state revenues and the state treasury. Apart from that, this separation can also increase accountability, increase supervision and reduce potential conflicts of interest, "said Ah Maftuchan who is also the Co-coordinator of Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia (TAFJA).
To strengthen this step, according to Maftuchan, it is also important to reform the tax court which has been under the Ministry of Finance to be moved under the Supreme Court (MA).
Maftuchan believes that if this is done it could be a good step at the end of President Joko Widodo's administration, because this will greatly impact the orientation and governance of state revenue, both from tax and non-tax sources in the future.
In fact, said Maftuchan, the discourse on establishing a tax collection authority directly responsible to the President had been raised since the beginning of President Joko Widodo's administration. However, this discourse evaporated because there was reluctance from within the Ministry of Finance.
"If the formation of the State Revenue Agency begins, it will have a significant impact on our government, there will be social and economic benefits from this policy. The State Revenue Agency can become a new milestone for Indonesia in order to increase the ability to mobilize sources of state revenue and increase the country's ability to fund Indonesia's future development, "concluded Maftuchan.
Basically the formation of the Tax Revenue Agency as a model Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority (SARA) which is directly under the President has been a discourse for a long time and has been implemented by many countries such as the United States, China and New Zealand.
