Earmarking tax policy as an instrument of public service provision in regional development

Abstract

Local taxes contribute to local revenue of around 50 %. The policy of earmarking tax in Law No. 28 of 2009 on Regional Tax affirms the use of tax for development fund that can be enjoyed directly by taxpayers. Earmarking tax ensures that tax revenues are used for development and sustainability of local development funding. Furthermore, local government cannot delay development activities on the reason of fund unavailability. The purpose of this article is to analyze the prospect of earmarking tax policy in supporting sustainable regional development. This study applied library research. Results of this study show that if earmarking tax policy is compared with the general tax definition as a non-lead payment, its contribution in tax payment is unjustifiable. However, if considering that the local tax is levied by local governments on the local taxpayer performing taxable acts and allocated to the local government budget for financing regional development, so it becomes important to assure that it will return to the community. Implementation of earmarking tax ensures that tax revenue is allocated to the most appropriate sectors and relevant with the objective of tax collection. In conclusion, the earmarking tax policy emphasizes the role of local taxes in supporting development in regions ensuring sustainability of regional development fund.

Keywords

• earmaking tax
• local taxes
• local government
• regional development