Autonomy That Does Not Reach the Tax Base: Aceh and a General Fiscal Statute
Keywords:
asymmetric autonomy, special autonomy, lex specialis, fiscal decentralisation, consultation requirementAbstract
Special autonomy is commonly assumed to displace general legislation within its field. This article shows that the assumption fails for taxation in the clearest Indonesian case and explains why. Law No. 11 of 2006 on the Governing of Aceh confers extensive autonomy, an enhanced share of natural resource revenue, and a special autonomy fund. It does not confer autonomy over the tax base. Article 180(2) provides that the management of Aceh's own-source revenue from taxes and levies is carried out in accordance with legislation, and Article 7(2) reserves national fiscal affairs to the central government. When Law No. 1 of 2022 reassigned two thirds of provincial vehicle taxation to regencies and cities, Aceh was therefore subject to the reassignment on the same terms as every other province, and its special autonomy supplied no carve-out. The article argues that the point of resistance, if there is one, lies not in the fiscal articles but in two procedural provisions: Article 8(2), requiring consultation with the Aceh legislature on bills relating directly to the governing of Aceh, and Article 269(3), requiring the same before amendment of the autonomy statute itself. It compares this with the Constitutional Court's treatment of Papuan special autonomy, where a general-legislation reference was read down in favour of a special instrument, and asks why the two cases differ.References
Adams, T. (2025). Criteria of validity. The Modern Law Review, 88(3), 557-584. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12938
Anton, R. G. (2024). Mirroring comparative fiscal federalism to design the EU revenue side. Intertax, 52(11), 684-704. https://doi.org/10.54648/taxi2024077
Arzoz, X. (2019). Extent and limits of devolution in Spain. European Public Law, 25(1), 83-103. https://doi.org/10.54648/euro2019006
Bonvecchi, A., Calvo, E., & Stein, E. (2020). Legislating fiscal imbalance: using tax policy to protect fiscal decentralization in the Argentine Congress. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 50(4), 620-644. https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjaa001
Edgar, A., & Stack, K. M. (2019). The authority and interpretation of regulations. The Modern Law Review, 82(6), 1009-1033. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12458
Feldman, C. (2025). Going beyond repeal: a preliminary exploration of unenacting legislation. Statute Law Review, 46(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/slr/hmaf030
Hameed, A. (2023). Parliament's constitution: legislative disruption of implied repeal. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 43(2), 429-455. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqad004
Harikrishnan, K. S., & Hiremath, G. S. (2026). Fiscal asymmetry and subnational social spending: decoding India's federal experience. Regional & Federal Studies, 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2025.2611238
Henriquez Vinas, M. (2025). Constitutional derogatory clauses and their relationship with preconstitutional legislation. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 23(5), 1558-1580. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moaf052
Heyi, N. D. (2026). Regional policy autonomy in Ethiopian federation: a comparative analysis. Regional & Federal Studies, 36(3), 577-606. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2025.2551596
Ladner, A., Keuffer, N., & Bastianen, A. (2025). Local autonomy around the world: the updated and extended Local Autonomy Index (LAI 2.0). Regional & Federal Studies, 35(2), 163-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2023.2267990
Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia. (2010). Putusan Nomor 116/PUU-VII/2009 [Constitutional Court Decision No. 116/PUU-VII/2009]. Retrieved August 29, 2026, from https://jdih.mkri.id
Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia. (2022). Putusan Nomor 47/PUU-XIX/2021 [Constitutional Court Decision No. 47/PUU-XIX/2021], decided 31 August 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2026, from https://jdih.mkri.id
Nakatani, R. (2024). Revenue decentralization and the probability of a fiscal crisis: is there a tipping point for adverse effects?. Public Finance Review, 52(3), 376-396. https://doi.org/10.1177/10911421231217388
Osipov, A. (2022). Mapping non-territorial autonomy arrangements. Ethnopolitics, 21(5), 561-580. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2021.1975891
Pemerintah Aceh. (2024). Qanun Aceh Nomor 4 Tahun 2024 tentang Pajak Aceh dan Retribusi Aceh [Qanun of Aceh No. 4 of 2024 on Aceh Taxes and Aceh Levies]. Lembaran Aceh Tahun 2024 Nomor 4, Tambahan Lembaran Aceh Nomor 142. Enacted text not publicly retrievable.
Poirier, J., & Hartery, J. (2022). Para-constitutional engineering and federalism: informal constitutional change through intergovernmental agreements. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 20(2), 758-787. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moac040
Popelier, P. (2025). Loyalty in federal systems: notes toward a theory of autonomy and cohesion. Publius: The Journal of Federalism. https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjaf038
Prasanna Bhattacharya, A., & Makkar, K. (2021). Non-amending provisions in a constitutional amendment: a practical application to the transition period under the 101st Constitution Amendment Act, 2016. Statute Law Review, 42(1), 47-69. https://doi.org/10.1093/slr/hmz024
Sethia, D. (2021). Vertical sharing and horizontal distribution of federal-provincial transfers in Canada, 1983-2018. Canadian Tax Journal, 69(1), 35-82. https://doi.org/10.32721/ctj.2021.69.1.sethia
Singh, S. K. (2023). Pre-constitutional laws in India: beyond presumption of constitutionality. Statute Law Review, 44(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/slr/hmaa022
Siwinska-Gorzelak, J., Bukowska, G., & Wojcik, P. (2020). The impact of revenue autonomy on the composition of local public spending: evidence from Poland. Local Government Studies, 46(4), 641-665. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2019.1635017
Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2022 tentang Hubungan Keuangan antara Pemerintah Pusat dan Pemerintahan Daerah [Law No. 1 of 2022 on Financial Relations between the Central Government and Regional Governments]. Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 2022 Nomor 4, Tambahan Lembaran Negara Nomor 6757.
Undang-Undang Nomor 11 Tahun 2006 tentang Pemerintahan Aceh [Law No. 11 of 2006 on the Governing of Aceh]. Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 2006 Nomor 62, Tambahan Lembaran Negara Nomor 4633.
Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011 tentang Pembentukan Peraturan Perundang-undangan [Law No. 12 of 2011 on the Formation of Legislation], as amended. Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 2011 Nomor 82, Tambahan Lembaran Negara Nomor 5234.
Undang-Undang Nomor 21 Tahun 2001 tentang Otonomi Khusus bagi Provinsi Papua [Law No. 21 of 2001 on Special Autonomy for the Papua Province]. Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 2001 Nomor 135, Tambahan Lembaran Negara Nomor 4151. van der Vlugt, S. (2023). The principle of legality of taxation as a general principle of EU law: national and supranational differences of interpretation and potential difficulties. EC Tax Review, 32(5), 214-228. https://doi.org/10.54648/ecta2023027
Varuhas, J. N. E. (2020). The principle of legality. The Cambridge Law Journal, 79(3), 578-614. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0008197320000598
Yimenu, B. (2023). Measuring and explaining de facto regional policy autonomy variation in a constitutionally symmetrical federation: the case of Ethiopia, 1995-2020. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 53(2), 251-277. https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjac039
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0).
