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Food Stall Owners Slam Jakarta Over New Restaurant Tax
Ronna Nirmala | February 22, 2012

Streetside food stall owners dished it out to Jakarta’s deputy governor on Tuesday, angry over plans for a new restaurant tax in the capital. (JG Photo) Streetside food stall owners dished it out to Jakarta’s deputy governor on Tuesday, angry over plans for a new restaurant tax in the capital. (JG Photo)
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DrDez
10:14am Feb 23, 2012

EJ - yup spot on


enakajah
1:17pm Feb 22, 2012

What will these honest businesses receive in return? relief from the current bribes and protection money they already have to pay? will the police harassement stop?

What is it that the governor thinks he is going to achieve, an accolade for putting thousands of micro-businesses out of business? collection of some paltry amount in tax that will get wasted or stolen?

These are the last bastion of something cheap and reasonable to millions of working people throughout the city, something that is stable as far as costs go in the ever rising costs of living and working in the city.

These food stalls provide a vast and very valuable service in the city regardless of the inconvenience to some. they mean the difference between being able to eat during the day and not being able to, to a vast number of city workers. Leave them alone and collect tax from someone less vulnerable.


SirAnthonyKnown-Bender
11:54am Feb 22, 2012

Anything that involves the spending of actual money is a priori off the agenda BB, which doesn't leave a lot of room to manoeuvre.

blightyboy
11:00am Feb 22, 2012

These food-stalls should be organised into Food Parks by the government and they should be provided with space and facilities like electricity and water, at a rental they can afford. As far as I know these warteg mostly use the pavements, which makes them impassable for pedestrians, which is basically illegal, so how can you tax them? They also look awful and are unhygienic. And of course this scheme is wide open to massive corruption, which is probably the main reason behind it anyway. I can just imagine how the collection, in cash, of this tax will work.

Why can the authorities never use their brains and come up with real and creative solutions that makes life better for everybody?

During his time, has Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo actually done one thing, implemented anything, that has improved Jakarta or the life of its citizens?

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Streetside food stall owners dished it out to Jakarta’s deputy governor on Tuesday, angry over plans for a new restaurant tax in the capital.

A number of small business owners from the Tegal Association met with Jakarta’s second-in-command, Prijanto, to complain about a 2011 local regulation which came into force this year and levies a tax on food outlets with a daily turnover of Rp 550,000 ($61) or more.

The most common type of budget food stall in Jakarta is called a warung Tegal, or warteg for short.

Tegal Association general secretary Arief Mukhtiono said the regulation would do more harm than good.

“As far as we are concerned, this is like trawling for tax. It won’t just catch the big fish, but will affect the little fish too,” Arief said. “In other words, the unemployed will end up paying for this, too.”

Arief said warteg owners were concerned about the consumers who patronize their stalls but earn less than minimum wage. The government should remember, he said, that the tax would hit those who could least afford it.

“We hope this meeting was useful. The response from the deputy governor was positive. He said he would take the issue up with the legal services and taxation office and ask them to review the policy,” the businessman said, adding: “Hopefully that wasn’t a hollow promise.”

Arief said the delegation had chosen to meet the deputy governor because Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo had already closed the door on negotiations over the policy. He also said it was not a problem that Prijanto’s term in office was due to be over soon.

“The important thing is that we discuss this with the relevant authorities in the city administration. He [Prijanto] is a representative of the people, so he has a responsibility to defend their interests,” Arief said.

He said the Tegal Association doubted the validity of the data used to pinpoint the daily turnover threshold above which a food stall must pay taxes. He also said he believed that the city had used “some random survey on the Internet” rather than conducting a proper survey on the streets of the capital.

He said the Tegal Association would conduct its own survey of turnover if necessary because it did not trust the finding that most wartegs turned over less than Rp 550,000 per day, or Rp 200 million annually.

“The tax officials arrived at the Rp 200 million figure via an Internet survey, so we are offering to make an independent study team to examine this, so that the threshold figure used is fair for everyone,” Arief said at City Hall.

In addition to lobbying, several warteg owners were in the process of filing for a judicial review of the administrative decision behind the regulation, Arief said, adding that they were being assisted by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta).

He said the ex-minister for finance, Rizal Ramli, was prepared to give evidence in the administrative appeal.