Tax

Yesterday was tax day in both NL and ID. Now let's see how things are in both countries.

NL:
The lowest bracket is 33% income tax, the highest is 52%.
Everyone, even the trash collecting guy pays tax.
The form is pretty clear and you can get a lot of tax cut, such as from buying books for schooling.
There is a chance that you get your tax back.
No Gayus around...
You get what you are paying in term of good infrastructure, free schooling for kids

ID:
The lowest bracket is 5% income tax, the highest is 35%.
Only part of the working force pay taxes. There are plenty of under the table payments.
The form is confusing and you cant get much of tax cut.
More often than not, you wont see anything back even if you are eligible to it.
Plenty of Gayus around...
Our infrastructure is a mess, they say the school is free but contribution by parents still needed.

I found it amusing when Indonesian complain that we dont get what we are paying for compare to NL. The thing is, there isnt much money collected from tax to begin with compare to in NL. Coupled that with rampant corruption in Indonesia. We cant compare apple to pear.

I think we need to restructure our tax to be more progressive, streamline and clearer. Of course people put off paying taxes while there are plenty of Gayus around, so we need to clean up the corruption. We need a strong and just person to do that in the tax office.