KhunHeineken

I live in Pattaya. Last time I went to Soi 6 was 3 months ago. What's that say about the place?

Perhaps you would care to explain the part of Thai culture surrounding a Thai guy having a Mia Noi then.

Cannabis up, Boom Boom down. Times are changing.

That's the thing, not even tourists go there now. It's not because Soi 6 is too "seedy." It's because the business model of the one company that owns most of the bars on Soi 6 run the soi basically like a 25 room nightclub.

Soi 6 has been destroyed. All of the 25 bars owned by the same company are all the same. Super loud music, of a style that doesn't match the clientele of the bar, at any given time. Get a few young guys in, the latest EDM. Get a few older guys in, the latest EDM. As their business model declines, the drink prices and bar fines have gone up, and as the girls are not getting as many customers because of the uninviting environment, the girls put their prices up as well. Same old Thai story. Money go down, put price up. That basically means the business is not viable, across all of their bars. Last time I went to one of that company's bars, it was 110 baht a beer, and I had to get up off the bar stool and take the bar girl outside where she could hear what I wanted to order, then go back inside. I had one beer and left. To take the p*ss before leaving, I waved over one of the young bar managers and said in a raised voice, but not yelling, "Where are you from?" He said, "What, I can't hear you." Then I yelled really loudly and said, "Yeah, neither can the staff hear my drink order" and walked out. And somehow, they expect customers to take a girl upstairs. You have zero interaction with the girls because of the ridiculously loud music, so you may as well go to a "soapy" and have a nice clean room for 90 minutes. At my age, I'd pay 120 baht a beer if they played some 80's music and at a reasonable level of volume. To be fair, I considered maybe they are targeting the young western 2 week millionaires. Walking down Soi 6 I could see most of their bars only had 2 or 3 customers. So that's about 75 customers across 25 bars. Good Luck with that.

You still don't get it.

Or is the other part of the one?

Are you charged, brought before a Court, prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced to prison time for overstay? No. On the other hand, don't pay your taxes and.................................................

As I have said many times in the past, myself, also some friends of mine, and some members of AN, have posted it's not about making money, or affordability. It's about not having 800k baht tied up in a 3rd World Country where it earns a pittance, and for the privilege, you have to queue at immigration and deal with Thai officials. Also, it's a lot more than a few thousand baht. The interest on 800k baht in my home country is around 40,000 baht, and the agent charges no where near this. I could move the money here tomorrow if I wanted to. It just makes no economic sense to do so. Risk v Reward. To cover my a** I bring in more than 65,000 baht each month anyway. It's funny how members "scaremonger" those using visa agents with visions of crackdowns, then claim to be "scaremongered" in relation to posts on the tax threads.

The American lawyer in Thailand mentioned this in one of his youtube videos. Thailand used to have that system, and some countries still do. He said it was possible for some type of "domestic clearance system" to be implemented in the future. I said a long time ago the day may come where there is an immigration overstay desk AND a TRD desk at airports and borders. This tax policy will evolve. The Thai's will turn a baht out it for sure.

Spelling, or grammar?

I never suggested they were. Not all Thai's, rich or poor, like the tourist areas, do they?

In the same way Uber disrupted the taxi industry, and AirBnB disrupted the hotel industry, apps are disrupting the sex trade in Thailand. No need for lady drinks and bar fines anymore when you can find a girl for an hour or for the night on an app, whist sitting having a beer in your hotel lobby bar, or even by your hotel's pool.

Yes. From the ATO. https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/international-tax-agreements/in-detail/international-arrangements/automatic-exchange-of-information-crs-and-fatca

Why the Greens? Why not Independents?

I don't go to Sizzlers. When it's busy, are we talking Chinese and Russians, or western tourists / expats?

We had American members take the unusual step of coming onto the Australia Forum, trolling in revenge for you trolling in the America Forum. Well done.

I agree. There is a reluctance by many to treat this tax policy with the same respect they treat the immigration laws. Funny thing is, breaching immigration laws is not a criminal offense. You will be detained and deported. Not paying your taxes is a criminal offense. You may be arrested, charged, fined and / or imprisoned. Now, the chances of mass imprisonment of foreigners for not paying their taxes is slim, but one would leave themselves exposed to extortion by authorities here, and that's the whole purposes of filing, to cover your a** and not have any problems with corrupt officials.

You've scared a lot of people with this thread, Tom. The sand is only so deep for the ostriches.

Not really. They re usually off playing cards and drinking sangsom. They come back to the hotel around an hour later. They have very good time management skills.

Having high self esteem doesn't pay the bills.

You missed the point. It's not about the size of the bank balance, it's about the cost of the "service" over an extended period of time versus the cost of being married.

It's good that you support her family.

The slabs are similar to those used in Australia. We still use treated pine timber frames, but steel frames are gaining in popularity. To add to the fire resistance, people are also putting sprinklers on top of their houses.

Queue all the "scaremonger" posts.