JAKARTA – Encouraging people to pay taxes is not easy. However, Makassar Mayor Moh. Ramdhan “Danny” Pomanto took the initiative to provide a booth for Land and Building Tax (PBB) payment at the music and cultural festival held in the last F8 International event.
His idea received appreciation from the Executive Director of the Committee for Monitoring the Implementation of Regional Autonomy (KPPOD) Armand Suparman.
Revenue Management Agency (Bapenda) of Makassar City is known for regularly establishing a special booth for the community to pay PBB in every national and international music, art, and cultural festival.
Various kinds of prizes are prepared in order to urge people to pay taxes through a digital application system called PAKINTA.
One of the festivals used by Bapenda Makassar recently was the International Eight Festival or F8 Makassar.
There, the agency gave away free 1kg cooking oil for everyone who paid taxes.
It’s quite successful. The transaction value of PBB payment during the event which only lasted for 5 days reached IDR3.073 billion.
“We give appreciation to regions that innovate like that,” said Armand in a talk with The Editor on Saturday (10/8).
“What the Makassar City Government did, this is what we think people call as jemput bola technique. They use national and international events, attend, and become part of it, to collect taxes. We think it’s very innovative,” he added.
So far, he continued, not many regions have succeeded in boosting Regional Original Revenue (PAD) from the PBB and levy sectors.
This happens because regional heads have innovations and clear policies in tax collection.
In addition, Armand said, there are still many regional heads who are constrained in managing taxpayer data in their areas.
This makes regional PAD tend to be low even though there are many hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues in the area.
“One area could have many hotels but it does not appear in the revenue,” he said.
He hopes that regional officials will learn from the Makassar City Government on how to increase their PAD.
If necessary, according to him, the innovation made by Bapenda Makassar is applied by other regional heads.
Armand also appreciated the digital taxpayer data system carried out by Bapenda Makassar. According to him, all regional heads must use such a modern system to increase PAD.
However, he admits that the digitalisation system of tax collection has weaknesses as it is still difficult to ask taxpayers to remain committed to paying taxes every year.
“The weakness of digitalisation is in the commitment of taxpayers,” he said.
However, Bapenda Makassar’s method of attracting public attention through festivals is considered to be very effective.
“Regional governments can also take advantage of other activities. For example, in markets, or activities that present a large number of people. We think that is quite a strategy,” he said.
What Is Pakinta?
The Makassar City Regional Revenue Agency (Bapenda) has a Pakintaki or Digitised Integrated Tax application that is used to facilitate access to local tax payment services in Makassar.
This system was created to provide convenience in paying taxes. One of the places used by Bapenda Makassar is the mall. There, officers will approach a number of people to introduce the Pakintaki application.
With this system, the public is guaranteed to no longer need to bother making tax payments.
Simply by downloading the Pakintaki application in the PlayStore, people can pay taxes and find information on tax services in Makassar City. Payment is made with OVO, Gopay, LinkAja, and several other payment processes.
