TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Over one thousand villas located in the popular tourist district of Puncak Cipanas in Cianjur District, West Java, have yet paid property taxes that cost the local Cianjur administration to potentially lose billions of rupiah in tax revenue.

Head of the Cianjur District management and revenue agency, Komarudin, says that the tax awareness of villa owners in Puncak is still significantly low, especially for owners who originally live outside of Cianjur District.

“We find it difficult to collect the tax as their owners are not at the location. Most of the owners are from Jakarta. The villas are usually only filled by their caretakers,” said Komarudin on Tuesday, December 17.

He called for the local administration to fix the issue of tax arrears and increase villa owners’ awareness of the importance of it.

Villa Kota Bunga, for example, sees 1,087 owners guilty of tax arrears in 2019 with 474 located at the Batulawang Village and 613 taxpayers are registered in Sukanagalih Village. “The total amount of taxes yet to be paid, or tax arrears, amounts to Rp1.6 billion,” he said.

DEDEN ABDUL AZIZ (CONTRIBUTOR)