Govt plans to issue export tax on minerals next year

The government will issue export tax on minerals next year as part of the implementation of the 2009 mining law, Minister of Industry MS Hidayat has said.

Under the law no.4/2009 on mineral and coal, mining companies should process their mineral production such as bauxite, copper, nickel iron ore and iron sand in the country before being exported.

Speaking in Bandung last week, Hidayat said that the export tax would be issued to support the implementation of the mining law. He said that the law required mining companies to process their production in the country at least five years after the issuance of the law in 2009, or in 2014.

?The tax is being studied. The Ministry of Industry will propose the issuance of the tax to the Ministry of Finance,? Hidayat said, adding that the regulation on export tax on minerals would be issued next year, at latest.

With the issuance of the export tax, the minister hoped that beginning 2014, mining companies would no longer export raw mineral products, Hidayat said. In order to support the program, his office will propose the issuance of a tax incentive for companies engaged in downstream mining industries, he added. (*).