Indonesia mulls corporate tax cut

The Indonesian government considers reducing corporate tax in a bid to boost the country's competitiveness and discourage domestic firms from parking their funds overseas.

President Joko Widodo said that he considered cutting the tax rate to 17 percent from 25 percent in order to be able to compete with other countries, including neighboring Singapore, he was quoted as saying on the cabinet secretary's website on Wednesday.

"If Singapore applies 17 percent corporate tax, why do we apply 25 percent, of course, everybody will go there. How can we compete," President Widodo said.

The president said that the government is currently making calculation whether to directly reduce the current tariff to 17 percent or over stages.

"If other country can do it, we can too," Widodo added.

President Widodo has taken a series of measures and policies to improve investment climate and boost the country's competitiveness as he is undertaking a huge infrastructure projects to create more jobs and accelerate GDP growth.

Recently the country has endorsed a tax amnesty to lure hundreds billions of U.S. dollars funds parked by Indonesian nationals overseas to repatriate.

The prospect of the huge assets repatriation has bolstered banking and property shares at the Jakarta stock market as the investors expect a huge influx of funds will returned home.

Source : XINHUA