Jakarta (AFP)

Dimas Prayitno, a modest 21-year-old Indonesian, fell from the top the day he learned that he was the proud owner of a Rolls-Royce, and owed $ 15,000 in back taxes for this luxury vehicle.

But after seeing the construction worker's housing in a poor neighborhood of the capital Jakarta, the tax authorities concluded that he must have been the victim of a tax evasion scheme used by the Indonesian elite.

Tax evasion costs Indonesia billions of dollars each year and hampers the development of the largest economy in Southeast Asia.

"I was in shock and asked: what car are you talking about?" when the tax inspectors came to the house, Dimas Prayitno told AFP.

"How can I afford a car when I live in a house like this?".

The worker who earns at most 150,000 rupees (10 dollars) per day learned that he had been deceived by a former boss. The latter asked him for his identity document, supposedly for administrative procedures, and he actually used it to register his luxury car in his name and avoid paying taxes.

In Jakarta, where the gap between rich and poor is wide, some 350 Rolls-Royce, Ferrari and other luxury cars are registered under false identities, often borrowed from very modest inhabitants, according to the taxman.

- Smuggling -

This tip is just one of the many tricks used to escape taxes.

In December, the CEO of the national airline Garuda Indonesia was fired after being caught in the bag smuggling a Harley-Davidson and luxury bikes on an airliner.

A few days later, customs officials announced that they had discovered an importation route for dozens of contraband luxury vehicles and motorcycles in sea containers that would have saved buyers about $ 3 million.

"We will put an end to these illegal acts," protested Finance Minister Sri Mulyani. The documents claimed that "the containers contained bricks, but instead we found cars".

Last year, the American NGO Global Financial Integrity (GFI) estimated at 6.5 billion dollars the amount of tax revenue not collected in 2016 by Indonesia due to false declarations in the trade of imported or exported goods from the country.

The tax-to-GDP ratio of around 10% is one of the lowest in the region, prompting the World Bank to call in January for an effort to better collect the taxes necessary for the country's development. .

This call comes as Parliament examines a package of legislative measures aimed at lowering the level of corporate levies, while taxing digital giants more, easing regulation and introducing more flexibility into labor law, in order to stimulate the growth.

Better tax collection is also necessary to carry out the ambitious infrastructure projects promised by President Joko Widodo for his second term, including the creation from scratch of a new capital on the island of Borneo.

- "Manipulated" -

In 2016, Jakarta proposed an amnesty to push taxpayers to declare hidden assets and had recovered nearly $ 10 billion.

However, much remains to be done to identify the actual owners of vehicles, companies or properties, commonly registered under assumed names.

"This is a long-standing problem, and if the government were to put an end to it, it would boost tax collection," said Nurkholis Hidayat, researcher for the Indonesian NGO Fair Tax Forum.

Recently, tax authorities have started placing "unpaid taxes" stickers on vehicles in wealthy neighborhoods.

But for victims like Dimas Prayitno, the damage is done. He would like to become a motorcycle taxi driver, but the banks refuse to lend him money to buy a two-wheeler because of the unpaid taxes for "his" Rolls-Royce.

"I have been refused a loan three times because of this tax problem", when the banks know "that I have been manipulated", he laments.

© 2020 AFP