TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that this year's tax revenue is still Rp430 trillion short of the pegged target of Rp1,294 trillion. Kalla doubt that the government could meet the target in the remaining days of 2015.
"We'll just be honest; it's impossible to get Rp400 trillion in December. This means that we will have a tax revenue deficit this year," the vice president said when opening the 2016 Economic Outlook discussion at the Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta, Tuesday, December 1.
The deficit, he said, could only be patched up by two solutions: cutting expensed or increasing debts.
"There is no other solution," he said.
State expenses that could be trimmed, he said, are development budgets. It is impossible for the government to cut employee salaries or other posts.
"Of course we could also cut other expenses like meeting budgets. But what is usually cut is the development budget," he said.
Kalla urges all government institutions to tighten their belts and cut back on budgets that are not too important. He also reminded that budget cuts must be made with close attention to job fields and productivity levels.
ALI HIDAYAT
