wensiensheng

A lot of talk about mafia connections and “crimes” which sound serious, but the only crimes the alleged gang have been arrested on are dodging a hospital bill, overstay and stealing a motorbike.

They don’t sound like criminal masterminds or up there with the Gambino family. Lowlifes for sure though

1 hour ago, Sig said:

I believe that suicide, whether assisted or not, is one of the most selfish acts a human being can do.
While I can definitely understand many situations where one may feel like doing such a thing, in the end, it is phenomenally selfish.

I think that you miss the point that people contemplating suicide are for a variety of reasons, emotionally disturbed. Your rational thinking and logic is not a factor. Nor is being selfish or unselfish.

you do realize people in the position of contemplating suicide are not thinking logically or rationally and THAT is the main issue. These people need help, not a condescending charge of being selfish.

19 minutes ago, koolkarl said:

I have written this a number of times and even my prior comments were deleted for  scaring you dear readers.  Well here we are.  The sole purpose of CRS is for a tax resident to report their world income and this is an OECD standard which Thailand is now a member.  If you hadn't noticed, a Thai passport can now visit the EU without a visa.  This is related to the CRS agreement too.  Now if your address on April 30 was in Thailand and you have foreign income, this info will be automatically sent to the Thai tax dept. every year you are here.  And you get nothing for your money, no health care, no immigrant status.  If you are worth anything, strongly suggest to look for another country as I have already done. 

I don’t believe you are correct in saying that a Thai passport holder can visit the “EU” without a visa. You may be referring to the Schengen area, but it still isn’t true.

Please provide evidence to back up your statement or stop spreading false information.

13 hours ago, freeworld said:

Residence-based taxation

The residential tax system or residency-based tax system is the most widely used tax system in the world today.

Over 130 countries use this tax system today. Among them are pretty much all major industrialized nations. Most of the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and the list goes on.

 

This is how it works:

As soon as an individual becomes a tax-resident in the country, he automatically becomes liable to pay taxes on his total worldwide income. You can avoid being taxed by giving up your primary residence in those countries, often by cutting your residential ties (houses, apartments, and other dwellings, memberships) and spending less than 183 days there.

If this were to come to pass, spending less than 183 days here is what I will do.

fortunately my daughter is now 18 years old and not reliant on me any longer, therefore extending my overseas trips from 3 months a year to 6 and a bit months a year, is very doable.

I may even save money because I might not need a long term visa, tourist visas might be sufficient.

For those who say that it is only reasonable that I pay tax here, consider how much VAT I have paid over the years, 3 full time employees that I have employed over the years, the people I have employed to do work on my two houses. Thailand and those of its residents that I have employed, have done very well out of me during my 17 years of residency. 
 

This will be the straw that breaks the camels back so far as I personally am concerned.

Doesn’t seem that big a deal. Nobody lost a leg unlike the unfortunate passenger who was trapped in a walkway travelator.

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

As you said, she got her phone back, he made a dumb mistake, a fine and all's well.

You sure this is the only “dumb mistake” he’s made?
 

Personally, I doubt it. He may well know people who can unlock phones and has provided a steady supply of them in the past. Just as likely a scenario as it being a one off.

weird thing is, if he had just given the phone back immediately , there would have been no disturbance and he would have faced no charges whatsoever! No such thing as attempted theft in Thailand presumably.

17 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

To avoid paying the tax. Much cheaper.

i have been buying some from Cambodia I think. Cheaper and none of those stupid warnings on the packets. I bought them from a Burmese guy in Patong.

 

I applaud this warning from the UK Foreign Office.

what I have noticed in the short time I have been here is the terrible behavior from the Brits. Murders, trying to rip off poor sex workers, bashing the elderly Thais, human trafficking and child molesting etc etc

 

It is disgusting. 
And ironically most of the Brits I have met here are constantly criticizing Russians.

People in glass houses should have a good hard look in the mirrors.

Other than the cigarette thing, none of what you lost is in the FO “warning”.

got to actually read the article before getting on your soapbox

The headline is totally fictional.

It states that British tourists have been warned about their behavior, implying/suggesting that the warning is about drunkenness, disorderly behavior, maybe not having sex on a beach, kicking people in the back, that sort of thing.

in actual fact, the article goes on in some detail to talk about visa rules and the need to comply with them.

sensational headlines don’t make a story, they make the writer look incompetent 

Says it all about Thailand generally

53 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

From the article:

 

Matthew, who has been living in the village with his Thai wife for several years, is known among the local security guards for his volatile temper and frequent disruptions. 

 

You should really read the article properly before making a tit of yourself. 

Residents of the estate are both shocked and concerned. "Matthew's temper has always been an issue," one neighbour said on the condition of anonymity. "But no one expected it to come to this."
 

oh oh. You just made a tit of yourself

Thai media appears to be inciting racial tensions. Anything bad about a farang gets front page billing. Thai on Thai…yawn.

Or maybe these farang stories only get top billing in English Thai media in order to incite opinions among farang. Equally bad in my book.

The media should show some responsibility and report matters of consequence, not race.

Hopefully the outraged Thai netizens are slightly less outraged about farang now.

What they should realize is that the Thai environment attracts a certain kind of farang. Provide go go bars and bars with wall to wall cheap prostitutes and little to no effective policing and you get a particular type of farang that is not totally representative of all farang.

Anyway, good on this guy do the right thing in a smart way.

1 hour ago, Hornell said:

Many attempts have been made to get a UK Government to pay all UK expatriates the State pension that is rightfully theirs: all have fallen on stoney ground for reasons that are pretty incomprehensible to those of us on the receiving end. We have paid our NI contributions all our working lives (one assumes!) and we make no demands on the NHS. Private and Government Department (eg armed forces) pensions receive the annual increase; only the 'Old Age ' pension does not. It's not right, whatever the reasons to do with inter-country tax arrangements that are glibly trotted out. I feel very sorry for Mrs Fox and there will be many others in many countries around the world in a similar situation. It is no comfort to be told that we knew of (or should have known) about the regulation before we moved; it still doesn't make it right.

There is nothing that says this lady paid NI all her life. She might have, or she might have been a wife and mother who stayed at home while her husband worked and paid NI.

the rules might be regarded as wrong by some, right by others, but they are the rules and people take personal decisions based on them. Perhaps she didn’t think she would live so long?

“Thai police have dismantled a vast network that illicitly…..”

I wouldn’t call one Russian woman with 100 marks a vast network exactly. There are probably others out there doing the same thing.

the crime here is listing Russians as employees of company’s so that they could get work permits, when in reality the companies did no business.