KhunHeineken

It doesn't really matter what you believe though, does it? The facts speak for themselves.

No need to leave permanently, just leave for 6 months of the year.

Well, if I was a millionaire living in the UK, the main reason I would leave is because of the weather.

I understand your argument, but in a recent post I basically mentioned it's hard to find the correct term for foreigners living in Thailand. That 12 month retirement visa / extension is nothing more than basically a 12 month tourist visa.

With Thailand not offering a reasonable pathway to permanent residency / citizenship, that makes it an interesting debate. The Thai's don't give foreigners any "right" to reside in Thailand, only "permission" by way of visa / extension, which could be revoked at any time, or, the criteria changed at any time in which some, or possibly many, can not meet.

Your stats fail to address the wealth divide, which shows an ever widening gap. Here's an older article from my country, Australia. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australians-are-the-fourth-richest-people-in-the-world-so-how-is-60-per-cent-of-the-population-living-in/kpwzndngn "Household wealth is distributed unequally, the report found, with the top one per cent of Australians holding 50 times more wealth than the lower 60 per cent of the population." A lot of middle class "workers" would like to pay only 29% tax.

Billionaires have a lot of power. They "donate" to both major political parties for "favors" for whoever wins at election time. Also, they can threaten to pull out of their country, taking their company and vast cash wealth with them, certainly leaving a void. Politicians bang their drum saying how they are tightening up on tax perks for the wealthy, but there's so many perks available to them that if they close one, the wealthy just start using another perk.

I've already pre paid my funeral back in my home country, Australia. I did it to help the kids out, and to stop any possible arguments between them. I've paid GST (same as VAT) on my funeral, and I'm not even dead yet.

Ok. Most of them use the company's plastic card for every day purchases, so they even get to claim the GST / VAT back. Basically, it makes everything around 10% cheaper for them than the average person.

This was a famous case in my country, Australia, many years ago. When it hit the media and the community found out Australia's richest man paid no tax, every working Australian changed from seeing paying tax as doing their bit to benefit the country, to wanting to pay no tax as well. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1998/10/tax-o15.html It's become a policy platform for a minor party in recent times. https://greens.org.au/campaigns/tax-billionaires "For years the Liberal and Labor parties have given billionaires and big corporations special treatment, to the point where now 1 in 3 of those companies pay no tax." Can you provide some links showing that billionaire pay their fair share of tax?

More like he handed over his life savings to her, and when the money ran out, he was past his use by date, so she had to get rid of him by informing on him to police / immigration, while she sells the bar.

You need something like this for illegal immigrants. Go door to door across the UK. Rack em and stack em. I'm sure it would stop the boats.

The meager tax they pay may as well be no tax. I did use the words "their fair share." I accept "some" tax may be paid, but nowhere near what they should be paying. Even the royals were mentioned in The Paradise Papers.

Yes, and when you find it, can you post on here where it is so we will all know where it is.

Advances in technology, and medical treatments. Also, generous welfare systems. 50 years ago, if you didn't work you would starve to death. Now, the government pays you to be unproductive, and who picks up the bill, not the rich, it's the middle class who work hard and struggle to pay the bills.

Most millionaires pay no tax. They hide behind trusts, companies etc, etc. All legal, but at the end of the day, and many other countries are the same, the wealthy do not pay their fair share.

Thailand heading in the same direction, for foreigners and Thai's.

Some people pay good money for that service in a public toilet. Sounds like they knew their target, and already knew he was an overstay. The ex will sell the bar and pocket the cash. Then go back working in a bar again, looking for the next victim.

Yes, but it is an officially pardoned reason for overstaying, with proof, of course.

I'd rather encounter a foreign over stayer than a drunk expat on the road. Funny how the over stayer is arrested, detained, and deported, yet the foreign drunk driver, even after an accident, just gets fined. One is way more dangerous to the community than the other.

In hospital receiving medical treatment.

In that case, he'll "fit" right in.

I accept your position. I only put forward my opinion. I am not saying I am right, and others are wrong. Time will tell.

Simple, because we have no rights here. I've said it before. When the Thai government says to foreigners "Jump." Foreigners ask "How high?" That 12 month visa / extension is basically just a 12 month tourist visa. If you don't want to pay 1 baht tax, what do you do when they want 300 baht for a Certificate of Residence? You pay, just like every other foreigner pays. The Certificate of Clearance could end up being the same. Now, if they really go hard at this, it's 6 months Thailand and 6 months Vietnam for me, and Thailand will get zero tax from me. I really don't care what happens. I have no emotional, and very little financial ties here.

I've put forward a few scenarios since news of this policy broke. The one I think the most likely is just pay a nominal amount of money for a certificate of clearance that will be needed for the extension. 500 baht, 1000 baht, whatever. The one I think the least likely is nothing will happen, it will all go away. Nothing wrong with discussing all scenarios, but time will tell how this unfolds this year, and evolves over the next few years. .