AntaraJakarta (ANTARA) - The Government should consider demanding taxes from the informal sector, such as a YouTuber, as it has not been optimally explored, said the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) economist, Aviliani.
Speaking at the discussion of "100 Perempuan Ekonomi Indonesia" in Jakarta on Tuesday, she said that currently, the income differences between people working in the formal and informal sectors often become less relevant.
Along with the development of the digital-based economy, there are many informal professionals whose income can exceed the income of those working in the formal sector.
"Informal professionals are not necessarily not good. They, in fact, can earn a huge income, such as a YouTuber such as Atta Halilintar. It means that we cannot only look at the sector; if they earn a taxable income, it must be paid," Aviliani noted.
A YouTube content creator or a YouTuber is a person who has a large number of subscribers and is able to reap profits from advertisements posted on his or her page.
With the rapid growth of the digital economy and the increasing number of YouTubers, the potential for increased tax revenue is very high, provided the government can improve the compliance among tax payers.
Furthermore, according to Aviliani, the government should also set a benchmark for the ratio of tax payments to companies' or institutions' income tax (PPh badan).
"Contributions of income tax (PPh) and institution tax (PPh badan) are still too small for the state budget," she added.
Based on the Ministry of Finance data, the realization of tax revenues, including from the oil and gas sector for the period of January-February 2019 reached Rp160.8 trillion or an increase of 4.7 percent annually (YoY) compared to last year.
The tax revenue has only reached 10.2 percent of the government's target of Rp1,577.6 trillion from the total state revenue of Rp2,165.1 trillion.
Translator: Yashinta Difa Pramudyani
Editor: Eliswan Azly
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
