Karma80

Frankly, I'm surprised he hasn't sold off his family for overseas money at this point. Total benefit seen by actual people in Thailand since his socks graced parliament - none.

The Chinese side of my family has made it clear that Thailand is dangerous and Chinese shouldn't go. At least, that's what is being rolled out on Chinese "news" and chats. Once that gets traction, good luck with coming back from it. Ultimately, the CCP has a very good reason to try to keep tourism domestically focussed right now. The TAT machine stands no chance.

I'm going to plunge the country into debt, just so people can spend 10k at 7-11. Transformative? The sad part is that this was offered up as a bribe to buy votes, but never actually got them the votes. The people didn't want you here.

The PM is starting to ruffle a lot of feathers with dumb ass plans and helicopter announcements. Look what happened to your boss....

It's 21.3% for 16-24 year olds and 5% national average. In March 46.5% of 16-24 year olds were neither employed or at school, which means the figure for youth unemployment is probably higher in truth, but the qualifying criteria of "unemployment" is designed to push it down. Whichever way you look at it, that's quite troublesome for the economy.

China. Macua, HK. Domestic tourism in the economic slowdown has boomed.

This just dropped and worth watching:

True. But then thousands of people working in co-working spaces as digital nomads can't and would be liable for tax. 5% of Thai people actually pay tax regularly. 95% of people don't pay tax at all. When you put it into perspective, taking money out of an ATM with an overseas card, in a sea of millions of tourists, is not even on the RD radar this century.

More to the point, Non-O visas do not come with the ability to work, so in reality are little more than glorified tourist visas. The WP is just another level of ridiculous.

That's not true. Tax residency is residency as far as the RD is concerned. They do not consider your immigration status.

I couldn't agree more. Being a tax resident of a place with the lowest tax obligations is a no-brainer and forms part of my own strategy, and thousands of others no doubt. The problem with the RDs new (forced) interpretation is it makes Thailand far less competitive. Nobody wants to live through a learning period in a country with a really poor reputation for bureaucracy, flip-flops, implementation, corruption and policy instability. Not when your tax liability is on the line. Double taxation agreements or not, I choose not to have to dance through the hoops of fire to prove things to Somchai at the local RD. Anyone living in Thailand can attest that an active avoidance of anything official is the best policy. I appreciate for many retirees, the impact is next to nothing. But for others who are at a more enterprising point in their life from a business sense, Hong Kong or Singapore are starting to look a lot more attractive from a tax perspective.

Running in Bangkok or various other places would probably net shave a few years off your life due to the lung cancer risk exposure. That's if you didn't pass out from heat stroke. We should stick to the traditional sports of running to cross the road before you die, chased by wild dogs, and running to the 7-11 before they stop selling beer.

*Except for government ministers and connected HiSo, obviously.

It says a lot about your immigration policies when you lurch from one "buy one get one" offer per nationality to the next. Buy now! Limited time!

Exactly. The same story as China, was cheap, now not. Once the costs start to increase, it's off to Vietnam!

The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world by a long way. I don't think that's something to be proud of.

I strongly oppose CBDCs and the perils of centralisation and agree. Governments cannot be trusted to act in the people's best interests. But I can't help but think that Thailand's effort is 95% utter incompetence and desperate clinging to power rather than there being an evil plan.

No. That's the point, you are plainly not. You are carrying on as if you are the CEO of a toxic company that's a nightmare micromanager. You have created instability, mistrust, and the people didn't even want you.

How many meaningless announcements does the PM make a day. I've lost track.

And let me guess, you're going to wave your magic economic wand, and everyone gets 10,000 Baht. Hey Presto - a thriving economic powerhouse.

That is pretty much my strategy now. Thailand is making it clear that the only people they want here are wealthy foreigners on an LTR who are exempt from tax on overseas income. Of which only 318 people have applied to date, so that seems to be working out well for the program - not. However with this new government, I wouldn't trust that the rules didn't suddenly change on you after investing here. At least I'm not one of the poor buggers that bought an elite visa thinking it would be part of a tax strategy.

None. Hence the speculation. It's one thing to send out a memo; it's quite another to change the law or obtain a ruling in the tax court. In typical Thai style, we could end up with nothing being clarified and things just being a mess for a couple of years as the waters get tested. Shame really. Thailand was the beneficiary of a lot of money which will stay offshore, and not just from expats.

I live in Phuket. Can confirm it's little Moscow. What a surprise...number one nationality for overstay is....

Quite probably. The system now mirrors Japan's non-permanent resident status, which you get for the first 5 years of moving there. Taxed on anything remitted into Japan in accordance with any DTA. Otherwise not. Like everyone, I am waiting to understand exactly how this operates in practice, badly I am assuming, and shelved plans to buy a property or transfer significant funds into the country.

I've yet to hear any credible argument as to why this program has a net benefit other than the PM trying to buy votes, because he surely didn't get them in the election.