Inheritance tax should be introduced

According to a preliminary study, it suggested that Finance Ministry might impose 10 per cent rate on the inheritance. Inheritance value less than 10 million would be exempted from tax.

The study stated that this new tax is necessary because wider gap of income among people has deteriorated.

The study pointed to figures collected by the National Economic and Social Development Board, reveals that the highest income group has 13.2 time higher income for the poorest during 1990s. Income equality in Indonesia is much better than Thailand as the richest has only 5.6 time of income higher than the poorest.

"It is the right time that our society has to debate about whether to collect inheritance tax, ''she said.

Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Japan have imposed at least some kind of taxes related to transfer of wealth from parents to their kids. These taxes include gift, inheritance and personal income tax derived from receiving inheritance. These countries impose progressive tax rate, between 2 to 50 per cent on the value of inheritance.

- The Nation