Indonesia weighs sins of tax dodgers against threat to investing

Jakarta

SUCIPTO Hidayat's poultry house started with just five chickens. Thirteen years later, the Indonesian farmer has more than 14,000 egg-laying hens, yet has had to put plans to double his farm's production on hold.

Instead, he needs to save money to cover previous omissions in paying his taxes in order to take advantage of a government amnesty programme aimed at increasing the number of Indonesians who pay up. Just 900,000 of 255 million residents submitted a tax return in 2014. The government plan seeks to get more to do so now, paying a penalty rate of 2 per cent to 10 per cent.

"When I expand my business, that should count as building my country, the same as when I pay my taxes," Mr Sucipto, 36, said from his farm on the outskirts of Singkawang, Kalimantan. "It's not that I disagree with the tax amn…