Tax Lesson in College

Have you ever heard tax lesson in Faculty of Medicine? Or have you ever meet
college student which studied at Faculty of Science study tax too? It is normal if he or
she is student at Faculty of Economics and Business, but usually society do not see
“science student” to have urgency to need this lesson. Even so, it will different in 2018
because Ministry of Finance cooperating with Ministry of Research, Technology and
Higher Education had agreed to add tax lesson in college curriculum. Basically, there
are two reasons why tax will become compulsory lesson in college.

First, this is related to tax awareness. As Hestu Yoga Saksama from Directorate
General of Taxation say, tax need to become compulsory lesson in college so when the
college student graduate, they already have basic knowledge of tax, such as what kind
of taxes they need to pay. One of Indonesia’s common problems is about people who do
not pay their taxes. So, it become crucial the fact that tax awareness must be grown
from youth or in this context since in college. This is an example. In 2017, University of
Indonesia has conducted graduation for more than eight thousand college students.
These eight thousand people will then become the tax payers when they work later. Of
course Indonesia will have problem if they do not have tax awareness. Especially if they
work as entrepreneurs. When working as a worker, income tax will be charged
automatically, but entrepreneurs must have their own tax paying awareness.

Second, it still related to tax awareness, but it is more about their parents.
Former Minister of Finance, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said that there are still many
parents who have no awareness of paying taxes. He believes that college student will
become the intermediaries in socializing tax awareness and affecting their parents.

In conclusion, it becomes clear why tax must be added to college. Indonesia

have long-term plan until 2045 about tax awareness. It is about eliminate the culture
“proud of not paying taxes” and replace them with “proud of paying taxes”. College
students are believed to be one of the most important foundations to make this happen.

Litany Sondakh