DENPASAR, kanalbali.id – The Central Government has been asked to postpone the plan to increase Value Added Tax (VAT) from 11 percent to 12 percent, which will start on January 1, 2025.
The request was conveyed by the Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Bali, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya.
“If it can be postponed, then postpone it first until our economy is really strong. Because this competition is also tight with other countries,” said Suryawijaya on Monday (11/18).
“We reject the 12 percent VAT increase until the tourism situation on the Island of the Gods better. The economy and tourism in Bali hasn’t fully recover after the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic,” he said.
“If possible, our hope from the perspective of tourism entrepreneurs is to postpone it first until our economy is really strong. And we has just recovering. (we are) not rejecting, we ask for government postpone it postponing, I said not rejecting,” he explained.
“So from the perspective of tourism entrepreneurs, in fact the Chairperson of PHRI is expected to postpone it first, because one consideration is that the tourism economy is just recovering and just getting back on its feet,” he said.
The tourism in Bali has just getting stronger, and we should considering references from competitors such as Thailand, and other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore. They have not increased VAT.
“If the increase is forced, it cannot be postponed, of course it will have an impact,” he explained.
He asked the central government to postpone the 12 percent VAT increase until 2026 or until the economic situation really recovers. He said that in 2024 there will be an economic recovery in Balinese tourism, and tourism entrepreneurs in Bali must also pay debt obligations due to the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
“We are only in the recovery stage in 2024. That’s why we have many obligations starting from paying our pending debts, there are no more soft loans. There is also an increase in the price of goods. The increase in VAT is also quite a burden on the entrepreneurs themselves, ” he said.
“That’s why, as an entrepreneur in the tourism sector, it’s better to postpone it until 2026, for example. Then we will really recover and the world economy will also be stable. The government has already made other increases. Like removing subsidies and all sorts, don’t do it all at once. Yes, slowly,” he said.
The central government has planned to increase Value Added Tax (VAT) from 11 percent to 12 percent starting January 1, 2025. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said that the increase in VAT to 12 percent starting 2025 is still in accordance with the mandate of Law Number 7/2021 concerning Harmonization of Tax Regulations.
She also emphasized that there had been no discussion about the implementation of the tax increase being postponed. Despite many debates on raising taxes amid weakening purchasing power, Sri Mulyani reminded the national government budgeting (APBN) as an instrument to absorb economic shocks that its health must be maintained.
“The APBN must indeed be maintained because the APBN must function and be able to respond in the global financial crisis episode. We must still maintain countercyclical,” she said in the Commission XI Working Meeting on Wednesday (11/13). (kanalbali/KAd)
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