nigelforbes

A few points: 3% of USD3.2 trill. (UK) is over six times bigger than 3% of 502 trill. (Thai), not quite the same thing! Thailand's foreign currency comes mostly from exports, which represent roughly 65% of GDP, exports bills are settled in USD. International tourism represents about 11% of GDP, not much of which attracts USD. So, Baht strength is mostly reliant on exports, not tourism although Foriegn Currency Reserves are reliant on both. Whilst the 200k or so western expats represent about 3% of GDP (as I recall) and is in the larger picture of things, peanuts, visits by the friends and family of those expats amounts to less than the value of the plastic bag the peanuts came in!

I receive mine into my Bangkok Bank account in Chiang Mai, typically two days after the date it is due to be paid, sometimes this will vary if there is a bank holiday in Thailand. The payment has to be received in Bangkok and then sent via Bahtnet to my btranch so there are several steps that can cause delay. The payment does not come direct from the UK to your bank account in the provinces, it has a couple of other stops to make first.

It's boiling frog syndrome, if you boil with everyone else, you'll be fine. But jump out of the water and then return sometime later and you really notice the difference.

It's really tough to know these day, who understands what, especially in forums such as these where people can cover themselves and use the, "it was a joke, stupid why didn't you get it" card to get out of jail free.

When I first started working in the Far East and Asia in the late 1980's, I used to count the days until I could get back home to the English countryside et al. When I landed in the UK I was happy, for a while. Over time I noticed that anticipation of returning to the UK start to wain, eventually things got to a point where I dreaded going back. It's a funny old world, even funnier how people change over time.

Michelin experience Issan! Mummy, please make it stop, it hurts.

I don't mind that, it doesn't worry me. TBH I feel more of a stranger in the UK these days than I do here, I just can't relate to the people, their priorities or lifestyles any more.

It compares favorably to my Vigo . :((

That has been my experience with several medical specialities here. That is not to say good ones don't exist in most fields, just that I haven't found many.

Er, is that because Thailand has more poor people or is it because their economic growth over the past two decades has created more wealthy people, you know, job creators and the like...asking for a friend.

If you don't want to go back to RAM, Bangkok Hospital or Sriphat would be the logical choices although be aware that many of the same doctors work at all three. Your only other option (that I can think of) is Mahraj Suan Doc which is the very large (government) District Hospital but you would need a Thai speaker to accompany you. Sriphat may be your best option, I think. Good luck https://sriphat.med.cmu.ac.th/th/home I case you don't know, Sriphat is located West of the moat, in the grounds of the District Hospital and CMU campus. Here's a map page. https://www.med.cmu.ac.th/en/service/sriphat-medical/ https://www.med.cmu.ac.th/en/contact-us/

Just to put moving from Thailand into context. 15 or 20 years ago, when I had enough money to live where I wanted, I made the choice to live here. Today, if I had enough money to move to any where I wanted I would not remain. But that's not because I made a bad decision 15 or 20 years ago or because Thailand has changed for the worse, it's because I've seen Thailand, done it, been there and now it would be good to do something different. But at 73 I have made my bed and I'm happy lay in it.

Rubbish! Give us three examples of that intervention, easier still, give us one.

I don't know why you bothered to post to be honest. Mine is a curious interest in economics, not in making money, as I would have thought anyone who lives here might or should have I hope you find something else to read that please your interest more.

Nonsense, the Thai tax system is nothing like the US or other Western tax systems. Firstly, less than 3% of the population pay taxes via tax return, audits are extremely rare because they are focused on business returns, which represent the bulk of the tax burden. Whilst you may have had a bad experience with one Revenue staff, I have never experienced anything remotely inaccurate or unhelpful from any of the Revenue offices in over 20 years of dealing with them. Yes it helps to have a basic grounding in the tax laws but that is true of any country. The cost of tax consultancy here far outweighs the benefit to be derived from using them, unless the returns are in the many millions. And frankly, the tax rules here are so straight forward that paying for tax preparation, unless you're a real dolt, is a complete waste of time and money. There's then the question of the quality of tax prep. advice. If you were to use PWC or similar I would say fine, if your affairs are of a size and complexity to warrant using them. For the vast majority of people however, such things are no necessary here.

Go to the Thai Revenue office, of all the government departments here, the tax people are the most helpful. They will help you complete your tax return, actually they will do it for you, they are used to hapless farangs asking them to do that. ???? Here is a link to Thailand Revenue Department tax rules, they are in English and very simple and easy to read. Everything you wanted to know, from the horses mouth. https://www.rd.go.th/english/6045.html https://www.rd.go.th/english/37748.html

Because in the 1960's, when it was legal for foreigners to buy land, wealthy Indian's bought up large amounts of land from impoverished Thai's, at knock downprices. Before long, Thailand's land ownership started to head in the same direction that the US and the UK's did. Local people couldn't afford a roof over their head, because foreign buyers had driven up prices so government stepped in, just like the US and UK's government should have, and said, no more. You want to own your plot of land here for the same reasons the Indians did, because it's good value or cheap and because you can afford it whilst many locals can't.

Gambling is illegal in Thailand, I will not participate.

The tax office, go ask them, I already did, Capital Gains is charged to tax as income. Here, it's not difficult to find this stuff on the web, PWC, Sherrings, Mazars, they all have info,: https://sherrings.com/capital-gains-personal-income-tax-thailand.html

Type and walk, think and chew, pull the other one. ????

The taxable gain usually arises based on where the sale took place. If you're a US citizen you are taxable on your world wide income so it doesn't matter where it took place, you have to pay US tax although you might be able to reclaim that when you file a return. As far as Thai tax on that transaction is concerned, .no, you are not subject to tax Thai tax, unless you remit the income bla blah.

There is no capital gains tax in Thailand

I did the math once. If you add up the annual financial contribution from every Westerner in Thailand, including their 800K in the bank for their visa and subtract it from GDP, if they all left tomorrow, the impact is about 3% of GDP......less than peanuts.

The poster specified Westerners, not foreigners, there is not 3 to 4 million Westerners living in Thailand, there may however be 200,000 or so.

You rate your value to Thailand much higher than anyone else does or than is warranted.