She made this remark in response to the plan of the Directorate General of Taxation to leave the Ministry of Finance and become an independent body.
"We will see the overall reforms and of course we will consult and hear from all stakeholders. As I said, establishing a strong and credible tax institutions is very important," Sri Mulyani said while speaking at the 100 Indonesian Economist Workshop in Jakarta Tuesday.
The focus is not about the body, but rather how the tax agency can carry out its function in a credible, clean and effective manner, according to Sri Mulyani.
In this context, Sri Mulyani wanted a body that was credible, respected, had a good reputation, and could be a tax collection agency that was respected and admired by the public.
"The most important thing is to make the Directorate General of Taxation clean and effective, can walk or run, and carries out its function well, free of corruption and, of course, in this case the ability to keep the state finances well," she said.
The issue of establishment of a tax collection authority responsible directly to the President, had surfaced since the beginning of the administration of President Joko Widodo in October 2014.
Apart from the establishment of tax revenue agency, the discourse which came to the surface was an option to establish a State Revenue Agency, which combined all types of receipts, such as tax, customs, and other non-tax receipts. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
