Purnomo asks for tax relief to help ailing PLN
Thursday, December 21 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro has asked the ministry of finance to exempt state owned electricity company PLN from paying income tax on gain coming from the company's recent asset reevaluation, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.
"Paying income tax in gain from asset reevaluation is a must. But for PLN, which is now in a dire financial difficulties, the tax office should give an exception," he was quoted as saying by the daily.
He said that the tax office should at least subsidize the tax payment, which is estimated to reach Rp 10 trillion (?) or include the tax payment as part of the government's plan to convert part of the company's debts into equity.
Tax Director General Machfud Sidik said recently that he personally did not rule out the tax exemption but said that if the tax relief was given, it could become a bad precedent for other tax payers.
According to PLN, its assets had increased sharply as the result of the reevaluation of its assets. Gain coming from the asset reevaluation is subject to a 10 percent income tax. (*)