TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Ministry’s Directorate General of Customs and Excise announced that it has not set a number for its income from plastic bag taxes this year.

“Our target is flexible since this regulation could either be approved this month or the next. I will only focus on how the government and House of Representatives (DPR) could agree on carrying out the regulation as planned,” said customs and excise director general Heru Prambudi on Wednesday.

Initially, the Indonesian government agreed to the goal of generating up to Rp50 billion this year. However, that goal was merely to meet the requirement so that it would be approved by the House.

The government set a plastic bag tariff of Rp30,000 per kilogram or Rp200 per plastic bag, which corresponds to the best international practice. The government set this target based on several reasons, such as to reduce environmental impact and suppressing the production and plastic use among society.

However, Heru said that the low tariff was set considering that a large portion of people is currently still dependent on the use of plastic. Another reason for the low tariff, he said, is that it should not kill businesses where many people still rely on plastic.

“This is why we took the middle ground between the interest of the industry and the interests toward the environment,” said Heru.

CAESAR AKBAR

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