JAKARTA: Indonesia will postpone its plan to impose an excise tax on various forms of plastics until a parlimentary hearing is scheduled, a finance ministry official told Reuters on Friday.
The ministry originally planned to start imposing excise tax on everything made from plastics, including plastic packaging and bags, to reduce its usage as part of a revision to the 2016 budget, approved by parliament in June. The government, however, failed to notify the parliamentary financial commission, as required in order to impose the tax.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told foreign correspondents on Thursday that “political resistance” and poor on-the-ground preparation for the measure had hindered implementation, which was first proposed prior to her appointment.
Nasruddin Djoko Surjono, the head of research for customs and excise at the fiscal policy office, told Reuters the government’s 2017 budget, which gained parliament’s approval on Wednesday, assumes no excise tax revenues from plastics next year though the plan to impose one has not been cancelled.
“A letter from the Finance Ministry has been submitted to parliament for further discussion of this excise tax on plastics. We have not been called for by parliament, but our research continues,” he said.
Indonesia currently imposes excise taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. It will increase its cigarette excise tax by an average of 10.5 percent next year, aiming to raise 149.8 trillion rupiah ($11.49 billion) of revenues from smokers. ($1 = 13,042.0000 rupiah)
