If anyone needs reminding that they’re being paid using taxpayers’ money, it’s this tax department officer in the Indonesian city of Medan. But then again, if you told her that you’d have to be ready to dodge whatever she threw at you.
Recently, a video of a heated encounter between the tax officer and a taxpayer went massively viral in Indonesia. While both parties in the video were guilty of raising their voices, many netizens are in absolute shock that the tax officer’s idea of serving someone who pays her wages is by throwing stationery (probably pens) at the taxpayer.
In the video, the first flinging incident comes right after the taxpayer says, “You’re supposed to serve us!” and the other came towards the end after he threatens to report her to the police.
It’s not immediately clear what caused the conflict in the video, but the tax office has said that it started over problem with logging into the government’s online tax service.
“The conflict began when the officer asked for the (taxpayer’s) password so she could process his request for a tax invoice. After receiving the password, the officer put it into the app, but it was rejected. Meanwhile, the taxpayer was adamant that the password was correct,” said Rehbina Sukmasari, head of Public Relations at the North Sumatra Tax Office, as quoted by Detik yesterday.
With neither party willing to concede fault, tension escalated between the two, leading to the events in the video.
The next day, the tax office called the taxpayer for a mediation with the tax officer. The pair apologized to each other and no police report was submitted. The taxpayer did get his tax invoice.
See? Peacefully working out your problems with others doesn’t have to be so taxing, does it?
