By: Faranisa Diajeng
The Government of Indonesia continues to push for tax reform to ensure fiscal resilience and national economic independence. Amid increasingly complex global dynamics—including geopolitical tensions, protectionism, and the volatility of digital markets—innovative measures are being adopted. One of the main focuses is the government’s intensive effort to tap into tax potential from digital transactions, which are growing rapidly in line with the massive expansion of internet-based economic activities.
This commitment was highlighted during a working meeting between the Minister of Finance and Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), which discussed the Budget Work Plan (RKA) and Government Work Plan (RKP) for the 2026 fiscal year. On that occasion, Deputy Minister of Finance Anggito Abimanyu revealed that the strategy to strengthen state revenue will focus on leveraging digital data, including social media analysis, to track economic activities not yet captured within the taxation system.
Anggito Abimanyu explained that exploring taxation potential would be carried out through data analysis and social media monitoring. He emphasized that digitalization and data-driven supervision are key weapons in expanding the tax base and reaching digital economy players who have so far remained relatively untapped.
This strategy is part of efforts to achieve a tax ratio target of 10.45 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2026, supported by an additional budget request of IDR 1.2 trillion submitted by the Ministry of Finance for the upcoming year. All policies are being directed so that the ratio of state revenue to GDP reaches between 11.71% and 12.22%, a critical milestone in strengthening fiscal independence.
The Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) is also moving swiftly. Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, stated that the government has appointed marketplace platforms, both domestic and foreign, as tax collectors. The legal foundation for this policy is outlined in Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) Number 37 of 2025, which mandates electronic commerce providers (PMSE) to collect, deposit, and report Article 22 Income Tax (PPh 22) on the income of traders conducting digital transactions.
Domestic digital platforms have already been designated as tax collectors. This policy has been finalized. The DJP will also expand tax collection coverage to include the crypto asset sector and will appoint certain financial service institutions as collectors. He added that the DJP is currently strengthening the digitalization of the tax system, including improvements in compliance risk management.
Furthermore, the DJP is collaborating with law enforcement agencies such as the National Police (Polri), the Attorney General’s Office, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) to monitor illegal economic activities and the underground economy. Joint audits are being employed as one way to optimize law enforcement against non-compliant taxpayers. Authorities emphasize that there is still untapped tax potential, making the role of supervision and law enforcement critically important.
However, challenges remain significant. Data from the Ministry of Finance shows a downward trend in the tax ratio over the past few years. In 2022, the tax ratio stood at 10.38 percent, then declined to 10.31 percent in 2023. Projections for 2024 are even lower, at 10.08 percent, with a slight improvement anticipated to 10.03 percent in 2025.
Tax analyst from the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA), Fajry Akbar, observed that this decline is closely linked to the national economic slowdown. According to him, increasing the tax ratio requires that people’s incomes grow in line with economic growth. A country can achieve a high tax ratio only if its citizens’ incomes are also high. It is not surprising that countries with high tax ratios generally have high per capita incomes.
Fajry also suggested that the government should broaden the tax base through extensification and by utilizing valid third-party data. He assessed that several instruments within the Tax Regulation Harmonization Law have not yet been fully optimized. Tax policy and regulatory reforms must be implemented consistently in the medium term, while in the long term, restructuring of the national tax base is necessary.
In responding to a global context fraught with uncertainty, the government has adopted five main strategies to strengthen the national tax system. Deputy Finance Minister Anggito Abimanyu stated that the first strategy is cross-institutional data exchange, serving as the foundation for creating a transparent tax system.
The second strategy focuses on strict supervision of digital transactions, both domestic and international. The third involves adjusting import duty rates and expanding the scope of excise taxes to support industrial downstreaming. The fourth strategy targets optimizing revenue from natural resources, reinforcing President Prabowo Subianto’s commitment to ensuring that every entity extracting natural resources contributes fairly to national fiscal revenues. Finally, the fifth strategy involves integrating taxation and customs systems through Coretax, CEISA, and SIMBARA.
These measures demonstrate the government’s seriousness in undertaking structural transformation in the taxation sector, while addressing the challenges of an increasingly digital and borderless era. Strengthening regulations, expanding collection coverage, and integrating data are forming a new foundation for creating a tax system that is fair, effective, and sustainable. Amid fiscal limitations and global economic pressures, digital taxes are not merely a new source of revenue, but a central pillar supporting the future of Indonesia’s economy.
*) Public Policy Observer
