Mike Lister

In the good old days, eighteen years ago in Chiang Mai, all I did was ask for one and they gave it to me, I think I could have got two if I'd wanted.

I do, I'm a good boy. :))

As with covid payments, I imagine only those people who pay into the social security fund or who are in receipt of some other form of welfare, will be ellieble.

I suspect that is what the FB poster meant but they didn't write that. The Pai road is two lanes and very twisty turny, lots of hairpin bends.

From a local FB report from somebody in the following van, the driver was travelling at 85 mph which on the Pai road is insane.

No tax clearance certificate, no visa/re-entry permit or visa, the US used to do similar with green card holders.

Bangkok Hospital, CM RAM and McCormick Hospital are private hospital and the most expensive. Figure 300k Sriphat is the private arm of the University Hospital called Maharaj (or Suandok if you prefer), that is the next most expensive but half the price of the above. Figure 130k Mahraj/Suan Dok is the least expensive of the three but requires a long wait. Figure 75K Nakorn Ping is the Government District Hospital and is even cheaper still but also requires a long wait. Assume 30/50k.

About 15 years ago I had a lump in my throat that made it difficult to swallow and it wouldn't go away, three different ENT doctors at a private hospital in Phuket couldn't figure out why and kept making excuses that it was this or that. Then, one young guy put his fingers on my thyroid which is just below your adam's apple and said, your thyroid is swollen. After that miracle finding (god only knows why the other ENT doctors didn't bother to check the thyroid) I went to Bumrungrad where I saw a endocrinologist who did an ultrasound exam and made the finding. The original diagnosis was, matted follicular tumors which is a common finding in 50% of all 50 year olds, 60% of all 60 year olds etc. A biopsy showed they were benign. The job thereafter was to monitor my TSH and T4 blood levels twice a year, in early September I tested again and the TSH level had fallen for the second time so I went back to the endocrinologist. Fortunately, thyroid cancers are well defined and slow growing so the patient does have some time. The problem is that benign tumors can change over time and mine appear to be mid change. In-between benign and malignant are some ten or so different cell types, each one carries an increased risk of malignancy, mine is quite low at 20% so hopefully it has been detected in time.

I have read that bonds won't be issued to finance this, instead, the government will take a loan from a Government owned bank. Constitutionally speaking there is no precedent whereby the bank is allowed to lend to the government on this scale, doing so would also put the loan and the bank under the gaze of BOT since they have responsibility for all banks and their finding levels. Assuming there is a loan and the interest rate is decent, funding the interest payments out of the annual budget shouldn't be difficult but at some point, the principle must be repaid and I don't see how they can do that.

Once again, the Thai workforce is about 32 million people, of that number, about 6% pay tax via a PAYE equivalent. The remainder OF THE WORKFORCE may or may file a tax return and may or may not pay tax. Most of the remainder are either self employed or work as a limited company. The tax deductions and allowances for the self employed are very very generous, a person can turnover 1 million in sales and pay no tax, I know, my wife does.

The tax year starts 1 January and ends 31 December, your 180 days must be between those dates, every year. The clock starts anew each year.

The only way it can be repaid is using tax revenue income, that's where the budget comes from.....think about it. Of course, they could always ask BOT to issue bonds to finance that debt but I don't think there's any precedent for that since they are not actually buying anything, they are simply giving the money away.

Why? Because I think it is clear to most people that this thread and others like it are trying to establish fact and the video works against that. Please do everyone a favor and at least vet the things you post rather than offer them up as evidence of whatever it is your reason was for posting it.

And also extremely unhelpful because now idiots will use what is said in the video as fact and they will be wrong.

Great, so now we have goodness only knows how many expats in Pattaya, spreading incorrect information about this, they should join in here, they'll fit right in.

I stopped watching after 2 minutes because of two incorrect statements in that time, I've decided the rest of it is not going to be any better. 1.55 is wrong, the law does not say within twelve months of being earned, it says remitted within the same tax year. 2:15 NO, you were not supposed to go to the tax department and pay tax as soon as the money was wired, you were required to file a tax return at the end of the tax year and settle the accounting then.

Prior to 1997. The Thai Baht was hard pegged to USD at 25 baht per USD, at the time, the Pound fetched 35 baht. After the peg was removed, THB fell to over 45 and as you say, Sterling fetched 90, albeit very briefly. The op asks if "anyone remember when the Sterling/Baht exchange rate briefly fell to c.35"....my answer stands.

Carnage, just because somebody wanted to be first.

I can't begin to count the number of times that certain posters have told us they are leaving the country yet they're still in the discussion, confirming their decision.....that's the illogical part.

That's right, there was nothing that low before that, unless you go back to the crash of 1997 when the Baht was pegged to USD at 25 and GBP/THB was 35 for a long time.

I've never made money from any Thai investments although I did have an ETF that was doing well, until the national airline filed for bankruptcy which eroded every satang or profit since the fund acquired their stock. The brokerage fees on bonds erodes any profits plus foreigners can only operate in the secondary market. As for the SET, it's been broadly flat for years. https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/set?countrycode=th

A copy of their passport, not the original. "We strongly recommend you carry a copy of your U.S. passport identification page and current Thai visa to help avoid detention by the Thai immigration police". https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Thailand.html

Some of you guys have whipped yourself into such a frenzy and confirmed in your minds that only the very worst will happen, despite there being no new facts and despite constant reminders that the RD is developing new processes. Are you paranoid, are you glass half empty people? It's certain you're not logical or rational, however will you get through the rest of your lives baffles me.

Sorry, PA = Personal Allowance.

You farang, you no understand Thai math.