Luhut Mulls Raising Tax on Fuel-powered Motorcycles

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government is planning to raise taxes on conventional motorcycles or fuel-powered motorcycles. The funds raised from this tax will later be allocated for public transportation.

“The government is preparing a policy to raise taxes on conventional motorbikes so that it can later subsidize fares [of mass transport] such as LRT or high-speed trains (Whoosh),” Luhut said in his speech video at the Grand Launching event of hybrid electric vehicle (BYD) in Jakarta, Thursday, January 18.

He believed that the tax hike could support the national efforts to reduce air pollution. This policy, he added, would first be submitted to President Joko Widodo or Jokowi.

“We will collect the report on Friday so that we can submit it to [the president] in the following weeks, and we will hear the decision later,” he said.

He opined that this policy is necessary but not easy to implement. In the last few months, the government has been working on a solution to the pollution problem, and one of the proposed solutions is to increase taxes on conventional motorcycles.

“I think this is a good opportunity to clean up Jakarta and reduce the subsidy of up to Rp10 trillion that was given to us by Minister Budi Sadikin. We will just need to find the space to keep the economy running well,” Luhut concluded.

DICKY KURNIAWAN

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