Several traders at Tanah Abang Market, Central Jakarta, are worried about the plan to increase the value-added tax (VAT) rate from 11% to 12% starting in 2025. Because the sales of various textile products, which are currently declining, will worsen due to the price increase if the VAT really goes up.
One of the clothing vendors at Tanah Abang Block A Market, Tomi, said that currently, sales among the vendors have significantly declined. This is evident from the decline in the sales of the clothes he sells.
“If before Saturdays and Sundays were always busy, now it’s just ordinary.” Actually, we sell well during the seasonal times, so on regular days like this, we might get one order of a few dozen in a week. “But now there are none at all, for the past month I haven’t received any orders like before,” he explained.
“So I’m also confused when talking about how much the revenue has dropped. Because it’s just different from before.” “If before we didn’t even need to display our goods for them to sell, now it’s difficult,” Tomi said again.
Furthermore, according to Tomi, this lack of customers is not only experienced by him alone, but also felt by other traders. He even said that due to the lack of customers, many stores have permanently closed or gone bankrupt. “Just take a walk and see how many stores have closed. In this block alone, how many stores have closed,” he said.
A similar sentiment was expressed by a bag and accessory trader at Tanah Abang Block B Market, Pito. He said that on average, the traders in this largest textile market in Southeast Asia have seen a decline of up to 80%.
“If the traders here, I think their sales have dropped by 80%. Sometimes it’s busy, sometimes it’s not.” Sometimes we only sell two pieces, sometimes just one. Just look at the 3A floor, the fifth floor, there are already many empty stores. Many of the stores have already been sealed. Like this store next to mine, it was sealed because it couldn’t pay the service fee (market contribution),” he explained.
Pito, who has been selling at Pasar Tanah Abang for 36 years, admits that he is finding it very difficult to continue trading due to increasingly declining sales. In fact, he, who once had three stores in the market area, now has only two left because of the dwindling turnover.
“I have been selling here for 36 years, back when this was still PD Pasar Jaya, Block F, and those things didn’t even exist yet. So it’s been a really long time.” “So, the ups and downs of trading in Tanah Abang, I am already familiar with,” said Pito.
“Now, just yesterday, Monday, I didn’t sell well. Tuesday, I sold one. Yesterday, two pieces.” I also talked yesterday with the Indian guy who owns the store downstairs, I have known him since his father was selling, he used to take my goods. “Now, he doesn’t even take goods anymore, his own business isn’t selling,” he explained.
Furthermore, he said that the lack of customers is also evident from the many store owners who are renting out their stalls at very low prices. This includes the store currently used by Pito.
“Previously, the rental price for this store was Rp 50 million, but the owner couldn’t afford it, and it was temporarily sealed.” He had a service fee arrears for two years. In the end, he paid off one year, I paid off the other year, and finally, I was given a rental price of Rp 7 million per year,” said Pito.
“Just imagine, the rent price went from Rp 50 million to Rp 7 million, and it’s been three years now. Just like the store behind me, the owner rents it out as a warehouse or for storing goods for just a few million per year, as long as the service fee is paid by the renter so they have no burden.” From that alone, you can already see how bad it is now,” he explained further.
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