Senior official against tax holiday for mining investors

A senior government official has asked the government to avoid providing tax holiday for mining investors arguing that many of them carry out exploitation projects under short period plans, Bisnis Indonesia daily reported on Monday.

?Currently, many mining investors do exploitation work in a period of three to four years only,? Sukhyar, geology and mineral resources director general at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said over the weekend.

Such investors would gain even larger profits because they would not have to pay tax to the government, and as a result, the government would suffer losses, Sukhyar told reporters during a visit to Yogyakarta.

Sukhyar added investors would try their best to complete their exploitation work before their tax holiday period ends.

He suggested tax holiday be provided for non-mining sectors only.

Sukhyar was commenting on the plan of the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) to include tax holiday in the draft law on capital investment. (*)