Demand for Clear Regulations on Tobacco Tax in Indonesia

On Friday, September 12th, 2022, Adik Dwi Putranto, the Chairman of the East Java Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (second from the right), participated in a discussion regarding the increase in consumption tax in the city of Surabaya.

Surabaya, Indonesia - The East Java Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) has called on the government, particularly through the Ministry of Finance, to immediately issue a regulation that will standardize the consumption tax policy for tobacco products (CHT).

Adik Dwi Putranto, the chairman of Kadin in East Java, stated in a written statement on Friday in Surabaya that this decision was made in response to the government's announcement in early November 2022 to increase the CHT tax rate by 10% in 2023 and 2024.

There are no clear rules for managing the detailed description of CHT tax rates. This has caused anxiety among business participants as they are unable to plan for purchasing consumption tax stamps in January 2023, which should have been possible as early as December 2022," he said.

Adik stated that the ambiguity of the consumption tax regulations is another issue that enterprise participants must face, along with the burden of increased consumption tax rates.

In fact, he continued, the cigarette consumption tax has increased significantly in recent years, which has become increasingly burdensome for participants in the tobacco products industry (IHT). In addition, there are currently no standard rules regarding tariffs that have been released.

This will undoubtedly disrupt business continuity, especially for companies that no longer have inventory consumption tax stamps, as they must stop operations until an unknown time. "This creates business uncertainty," said Adik.

Adik stated that the continuous distribution of PMK (a tobacco product regulation) is a problem that has significant impacts on the entire tobacco product supply chain. In line with this, the East Java Chamber of Commerce has also expressed its opinion on the government's decision to increase consumption tax for two years.

In line with this, Sulami Bahar, Chairman of the Cigarette Companies Association (Gapero), expressed his hope that the government can better support legitimate business actors in the IHT by implementing clear and transparent regulations.

Sulami states that tobacco companies are facing various pressures such as consumption tax and illegal cigarettes.

According to Sulami, a 10% growth in the next two years is considered to be very high, especially as we need to compete with the illegal cigarette market that is currently circulating.

Sulami expressed concern, stating, "We are worried that if this industry continues to face such pressure, they will close factories or, even worse, turn to illegal cigarettes. In reality, the government has rolled out the red carpet for them.

The owner of PT Surya Hutama Anugerah, Sandee Surya, who also serves in the governance department of the Indonesian Steam Entrepreneur Association (APVI), expressed disappointment with the delay of the PMK decision. The company had already established the plan, but due to the delay, it cannot be implemented immediately.

This is very inconvenient because we already have a plan prepared, but we are not allowed to proceed with P3C recitation yet. It is indeed difficult because slow decision-making has resulted in the concept being put on hold and ultimately postponed," said Sandy.

As such, the e-cigarette industry is hoping for a prompt decision on PMK in order to immediately execute the company's plans. He stated, "We believe that raising prices is already difficult enough, so delaying further is not an option. A decision must be made immediately.

Sandee added that it has been decided to increase the consumer tax for the electronic cigarette industry by 15% in 2023, which saw a growth of 17.5% last year. With this increase, it is bound to become even more significant.

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