JAKARTA • The Indonesian government has delayed the handover of a sweeping tax Bill to Parliament until next month, a month behind its earlier target, an official said yesterday.

The tax Bill is one of two omnibus laws that President Joko Widodo is launching in a bid to revise swathes of existing legislation that hamper investment in South-east Asia's largest economy.

Corporate tax cuts and moves to make Internet companies pay value-added taxes are among the main changes the Bill aims to introduce.

Mr Joko had said earlier the tax Bill would be submitted this month, while another important Bill, which would relax the nation's rigid labour rules, was to be handed over next month.

Vice-Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara told reporters the tax Bill is now scheduled to be given to lawmakers for review early next month.

"We will submit as quickly as possible... after Parliament returns from recess," he said. Parliament reopens on Jan 13.

Mr Suahasil declined to say why there was a delay.

Last week, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto told a news conference the Bill was ready for the President to vet, and would be submitted to Parliament before it entered recess yesterday.

Lawmakers also had to postpone a hearing to approve next year's priorities because of the late submission of a presidential letter requesting deliberation of the tax Bill, Mr Willy Aditya, deputy chairman of a key parliamentary body that sets the legislative agenda, told Reuters by phone.

Mr Willy, a politician from a party in Mr Joko's ruling coalition, said the delay would not hurt Parliament's support for the Bill.

"We've been pretty open about the omnibus law so far. We support the President's good intention," he said.

The ruling coalition controls 74 per cent of the seats in Parliament, boosting the Bill's chance of approval.

Mr Hikmahanto Juwana, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia, said the delay would not be a problem if Mr Joko can maintain good communications with the nation's political parties.

"If (the Bill is) seen as urgent, it can be put forward" as soon as Parliament returns from recess, he said.

Mr Joko, who began a second term as President in October, has made improving Indonesia's investment climate and creating jobs a priority for the next five years.

On top of the omnibus laws, he has promised to cut red tape, relax foreign ownership rules in business and improve education, which he said would lay the foundation to make Indonesia among the world's top five economies in 2045.

REUTERS