JAKARTA. The government has recorded the declared and repatriated assets as totaling Rp 500 trillion (US$37.9 billion) from the tax amnesty program, where it has pocketed Rp 19.4 trillion in penalty payments of the Rp 165 trillion target. Meanwhile, the repatriated funds have reached Rp 23.5 trillion.

According to Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, most of the Rp 500 trillion assets have come from businesspeople who own large assets. He expressed his optimism to see more big fish join the tax pardon.

"Thus, if there is pessimism over the tax amnesty, I’d say: listen to the businesspeople. They said they would use this opportunity because it will not come again," Pramono said in Jakarta on Thursday.

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He also urged state officials to also participate in the program. Not only to increase state revenue, but also to expand Indonesia's tax base, which would boost the country's competitiveness.

"Among the ministers, we have agreed to do it in order to be role models for state officials," Pramono said.

A couple of weeks into the first phase of the tax amnesty program, the government was set to conduct a campaign to introduce the flagship program at the State Palace complex on Thursday.(Ayomi Amindoni)