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Indonesia launches tax office for its billionaires

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-19 14:49

JAKARTA -- Indonesia has unveiled a tax office to serve only the country's billionaires to track better their wealth and prevent them from evading their taxes, the Jakarta Post said Thursday.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially commenced Wednesday the operation of the office. Over 1,200 wealthy taxpayers managed by the new office, the Jakarta Post said.

"It (the office) is good for the state. But I told the president he should also include ex-state officials and state officials who are very wealthy too,"said Sofjan Wanandi, one of the billionaires.

The Finance Ministry's director general for taxation Darmin Nasution said that the rich taxpayers list pooled by the office, included some government officials from business backgrounds.

"High-ranking state officials who are also businessmen are also included," he said, refusing to name the officials due to regulations that kept any information on taxpayers highly confidential.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the new office would provide the richest clients with better services as well as monitoring.