REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Finance Ministry's Tax Director General Sigit Priadi Pramudito echoed his institution's confidence in imposing the "gijzeling" act or the move of taking tax evaders as hostages, which is supported by President Joko Widodo.

"We have received full support of the president, and that is why we have the courage to impose the entire billing procedure until the last stage, including gijzeling," he noted here on Friday.

Pramudito noted that previously, the Tax Directorate General was under pressure from the "big guys" who intervened in the implementation of the law on delinquent tax payers.

But now, with President Widodo's support, the interventions from some irresponsible parties have decreased, and this, according to Pramudito, has boosted the morale of the tax officers.

"He (President Widodo) said if there are some parties that intervene in our functioning, we just have to report it to him. Alhamdulillah (thank God), until now, nobody has called us regarding the gijzeling act we have implemented," he explained.

According to Pramudito, from the onset, President Widodo has committed his support to the Tax Directorate General in order to meet the tax revenue target, which is needed by the government for infrastructure development and social welfare.

"He (President Widodo) asked us to hold a dialogue. That was the first time for us (the tax authority) to be able to talk face-to-face with the president," he remarked.

During the dialogue, Pramudito said that President Widodo asked whether the Tax Directorate General can meet the set tax revenue target, so that he can deliver on his promises made to the people.

"We told him that we will try our best and prove that we can (meet the tax revenue target)," he noted.

The Indonesian government has set a tax revenue target of Rp1,294.3 trillion in the 2015 budget, with almost half of it, or Rp629.8 trillion, to be derived from non-oil and gas tax and Rp576.4 trillion from other sources.

The Tax Directorate General has committed to achieve the target by optimizing its investigation process to obtain up to Rp73.5 trillion and to generate up to Rp40 trillion through private wealth extensification and intensification efforts.

While through the implementation of "gijzeling", the Tax Directorate General expects to generate some Rp22.5 trillion of additional revenue.

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