Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan (right) greets women of the Extended Family of the Assembly of Muslim Students’ (KB HMI) during an event declaring support for Anies’ election ticket in Jakarta on Dec 27, 2023. - Antara
JAKARTA: Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan has pledged to raise taxes for Indonesia’s 100 wealthiest people if he is elected.
When asked whether he had the courage to do so, Anies claimed that those among the wealthiest would not dare meet him.
“Do I dare? What do I owe [them]? Those richest 100 [people] are the ones afraid to meet [me],” said Anies during a campaign event in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Tuesday (Dec 26), as quoted by CNBC Indonesia. Anies said the assets of the 100 wealthiest people in Indonesia were greater than the assets owned by 100 million Indonesians.
"We want our tax system to be fair. We are talking about the 100 richest people, and their wealth is more than 100 million Indonesians. This represents inequality. That’s why our method is to empower the small ones without shrinking the big ones," he said as quoted by Detik.
Anies also claimed that Indonesia’s richest people mainly gained their wealth by utilising privileges given by the country.
"Almost all of those at the top get that much wealth due to the privileges given by the country. Whether it is from mining, agriculture or whatever it is, it comes from the country. There are one or two [people’s wealth] that indeed [came] through market activities—purely economy—but most of them get these opportunities from the state. These benefits should also be enjoyed by the people," said Anies.
Previously, Anies’ running mate Muhaimin Iskandar also expressed his plan to resolve the inequality between the rich and the lower-middle class.
During the vice presidential debate on Dec 22, Muhaimin also pledged to impose higher taxes on the rich. He argued during the debate that the government should make more effort to boost tax revenue from the rich in Indonesia.
At the same time, he suggested that the government could simultaneously lower the taxes for the lower-middle class as a way to reduce economic inequality. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
