PERTAPSI: Tax Strengthening Must Be Supported by Education
JAKARTA, DDTCNews — Darussalam, Chairperson of the Association of All Indonesian Tax Centers and Tax Academicians (Perkumpulan Tax Center dan Akademisi Pajak Seluruh Indonesia/PERTAPSI in Indonesian), holds the view that efforts to strengthen taxation must be accompanied by education.
According to Darussalam, tax strengthening cannot be sustained if it is based solely on the argument that tax is a compulsory levy.
"Education is needed to convey the benefits of taxation, how tax is formulated and how tax is allocated," said Darussalam at the National Tax Centre Forum 2026, Wednesday (26/8/2026).
Through such education, it must be explained that tax collection provides public benefit. Accordingly, taxation should not be viewed merely as an obligation.
Education should ideally not only be carried out by the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT), but also by universities and tax centres.
"As such, tax centres must continuously reach all segments of society; we explain that we are indeed obliged to pay tax according to the ability to pay and how we convey the benefits relating to tax administration. That is the primary duty of universities and tax centres," said Darussalam.
In the foreseeable future, tax centres need to be revitalised to implement their duties and functions more independently.
One proposal put forward by Darussalam to enhance the independence of tax centres is to grant them the authority to organise continuous professional education (pendidikan profesi berkelanjutan/PPL in Indonesian) in the context of taxpayers' attorneys.
Tax centres may organise PPL provided that the tax centres in question have been accredited.
"For us, an accredited tax centre can play a role in providing PPL in the context of taxpayers' attorneys, so that we can grow independently, develop and collectively educate taxpayers," said Darussalam.
Darussalam also expressed hope for the standardisation of a tax curriculum developed jointly by the DGT and universities.
"It is no surprise that every university and tax centre has differing qualifications. We wish that the institutions are standardised, qualified and governed by the same regulations," said Darussalam. (dik)
