<![CDATA[Indonesia’s Law Number 1 of 2022 on Central–Regional Fiscal Relations introduced the tax surcharge (opsen) mechanism, under which provinces now collect a share of Non-Metallic Minerals and Rocks (MBLB) tax directly from regency/municipal tax bases through an automated split-payment system, a structural shift from the discretionary revenue-sharing arrangement it replaces. This study evaluates the implementation of the MBLB Tax Surcharge as an instrument for increasing regional tax revenue in North Sulawesi Province during its first year of enforcement (2025), examining both its legal-administrative execution and its fiscal performance. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, primary data were obtained through interviews with three officials at the North Sulawesi Regional Revenue Agency, triangulated with secondary data on 2025 surcharge and regional tax realization. The findings show that implementation is legally compliant with the governing regulations and operates through a self-assessment system supported by automated split payment, though execution remains uneven across regencies/municipalities due to residual manual remittance practices. Fiscally, the surcharge exhibits a striking divergence between its two performance dimensions: it is highly effective against its own revenue target (125.59%) yet contributes only marginally to Regional Original Revenue (0.45%) and Regional Tax (0.58%), both classified as very low. This pattern indicates that target-effectiveness and revenue-contribution are distinct evaluative dimensions that should not be conflated when assessing a newly introduced tax instrument. Remaining implementation gaps include inconsistent split-payment adoption, limited provincial-level field supervision of mining activity, and uneven taxpayer compliance, pointing to coordination and oversight as the principal levers for improving the surcharge’s future contribution.]]>
