Finance Ministry set to 'ramp up the tax base'

[Big Boy]

Once the economy recovers, Mr Arkhom pledged his ministry is set to ramp up the tax base, enticing as many people as possible to enter the tax system to create government revenue.

Note - Thread on taxes split from original on tourism.

For me, and most of my friends one of the big attractions of Thailand was it was a cheap holiday destination. If taxes rise, Thailand is no longer cheap. Another bullet in the foot.

They have to realise that all Farangs aren't stupidly rich. They work hard all year, saving for a holiday where they can spend whilst having a great time. If that illusion of being rich is no longer there, what will attract 40m people a year?

[squire]

When he mentioned "enticing as many people as possible to enter the tax system to create government revenue" his target (reported elsewhere) is mostly Thais with online businesses (selling on LINE and Instagram) many of which do not declare such income to the Revenue Dept and are not registered for VAT. In terms of concern for foreign tourists, the main tax they encounter is the VAT which the gov't has managed to contain at only 7% for many years.

[Big Boy]

But whether direct or indirect, these guys aren't going to pay the tax out of their own pockets. It will be passed down to consumers, who in turn will have to get the money from somewhere. Like it or not, Thailand will become more expensive, which will be a massive disincentive to visitors.

[caller]

You can only tax people if you have the means to collect. Many Thai's selling on-line are scraping a living, not rich and in many cases is to supplement an already meagre income. Any tax plan might simply stop people trading.

My other half did the most basic online selling for a while and for a bit of fun. All she did was select shoes from an online store she thought her friends might like and post them on her Facebook page. Sho got 200 baht for every pair sold. She gave up in the end as she didn't have time and this was pre-pandemic, but you can see how this might help if you have nothing.

The bottom line is they need to increase tax collection from the wealthiest. Anything else is scraping the barrel.

[oakdale160]

caller--its the same as everything else. Passing laws, establishing regulations, traffic rules, or taxing the population---- NO ENFORCEMENT>

[buksida]

It doesn't need enforcement, taxes will be added to pretty much everything people need to buy for daily life - more on the stuff the junta deems 'luxuries', which is pretty much everything else. As mentioned above, if it hammers online shopping with new taxes, the consumer will end up paying more, not the billionaire owners of the platforms.

Edit: moved from tourism thread

[STEVE G]

By raising the tax base do they not mean raising the threshold at which you pay tax? They're not going to entice anyone into paying tax by raising the actual rate!

[handdrummer]

By raising the tax base do they not mean raising the threshold at which you pay tax? They're not going to entice anyone into paying tax by raising the actual rate!

Nothing will "entice" anyone to pay more taxes. The best that can be done is to create a law that forces people to pay more tax. Are these people ignorant or just stupid. Hopefully it's ignorant, at least you can learn but if it's stupid, you can't fix stupid.

[STEVE G]

Nothing will "entice" anyone to pay more taxes.

Yes, I agree, I´ve never met anyone who was enticed into paying more but I think the point is to try and get more people paying tax than people paying more tax, which probably won´t work either!

[Dannie Boy]

They might take the easy way out and simply increase VAT, that way everyone will pay more!!

[handdrummer]

They might take the easy way out and simply increase VAT, that way everyone will pay more!!

That plus sales tax and income tax. Of the rich won't be affected. They'll whine and complain but can afford the increase in sales and vat. They have accountants to keep them from paying more income tax so, it will fall on everyone else. As usual, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the middle class, what's left of it will be holding the bag. That must be the plan because it's happening everywhere.

The world will end being one giant Handmaid's Tale.

[buksida]

Excise tax collection up on robust car, beer sales
Car and beer sales are recovering vigorously, resulting in a surge of excise tax revenue collection by the Excise Department from the two products for the first five months of fiscal 2021.

Lavaron Sangsnit, director-general of the Excise Department, said the overall economy has gradually recovered as reflected by the department's tax revenue collection in the first five months of fiscal 2021 (October 2020-February 2021) which tallied 233 billion baht.

Despite a 9.44% year-on-year decrease from the same period of the previous fiscal year, Mr Lavaron said the department's tax revenue collection remained 1.12% higher than the revised target.

The largest sources of excise tax as a percentage of the total excise revenue in fiscal 2020 were fuel (41%), automobiles (15.5%), beer (14.5%), liquor (11%), tobacco (11%) and beverage (4.5%).

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/20 ... beer-sales

Any one want to bet on another alcohol tax hike in the next three months?

[buksida]

Thailand to collect more taxes to ease public debt burden
The Finance Minister said Thursday Thailand will seek higher tax revenue to help ease the burden of public debt.

The government will start collecting e-commerce and e-service taxes from overseas platforms and will pass a law on such taxes in October, said the minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

There are more than 90 platforms registered, Arkhom said.

Arkhom also expected the public debt level to reach 62.69 per cent of GDP by the end of September next year after borrowing 1.3 trillion baht, up from 55.59 per cent of the current level as of July.

“More borrowings are not only for reviving the economy but also to invest for long-term stable growth,” he added.

The government raised the cap on the ratio of public debt to GDP from 60 to 70 per cent earlier this month.

https://www.thaienquirer.com/33400/thai ... bt-burden/

Those online platforms will just pass the tax down to the customer so pretty much everything you buy on Lazada is going to get more expensive.

[handdrummer]

The fallacy is that the government has to raise taxes to offset the borrowing of money. Thailand is a sovereign nation and prints its own currency, it isn't dependant upon tax revenue for funds.
The same is true of all sovereign nations.

[Dannie Boy]

The fallacy is that the government has to raise taxes to offset the borrowing of money. Thailand is a sovereign nation and prints its own currency, it isn't dependant upon tax revenue for funds.
The same is true of all sovereign nations.

But the problem with that strategy is that it leads to rampant inflation with the costs of goods increasing and it’s already beginning to bite!!