Alcohol taxes

[naboo]

I've read in the other paper that the government will pass new alcohol taxes on either the 5th or 12th September. They will come into effect on 16th September.

 

There was a big fuss about this 6 months ago and now the time has come. I can't find anything specific about what will actually happen.

 

I've read that imported alcohol will be cheaper. I've read higher quality will be cheaper. All good! I've read that wine will be exempt up to a higher threshold which will not impact on imported wine but will encourage local producers to make better quality.

 

I've also read the Health Ministry is concerned people will switch from beer to lao khao. It seems the feeling is, cheaper beers will increase in price as will lao khao.

 

Does anyone have any better idea of what is coming?

[Kwasaki]

Dream on. 

[strikingsunset]

Not a prayer - everything will be more expensive - it's just by - "how much"


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[JohnLick]

Quote

I've also read the Health Ministry is concerned people will switch from beer to lao khao. It seems the feeling is, cheaper beers will increase in price as will lao khao.

yea concerned...

 

good quality wine 100 THB per bottle and good quality beer 20 THB in Europe

 

Quote

let's sell them horse piss for 3 times more in a country earning 3 times less... and we gotta get enough satangs to fly Europe twice a year!

 

[sharktooth]

Nae chance

[Dmaxdan]

I doubt the price increase will be as much as the pessimists are saying. For example, if you raise the price of a large Chang by 5 baht and a bottle of Sang Som by 10 baht then the extra revenue generated would be astronomical.

The last time this happened was, if my memory serves me correct was 2012.  Then it was similar increases to what I have stated above. Remember that some of the tax increase will be have to be funded by the breweries and retailers. It is not just the consumer who pays tax on alcohol.

 

One thing I remember from 2012 was that the locals who own small village shops pretty much emptied the shelves of beer and whiskey from the large supermarkets so they could buy at the old price, and sell at the new. so if anyone wants to stock up, then now would be the time to do it.

[wump]

Increasing the tax by 5 Baht would not mean astronomical extra revenue. I figure most of the beer price is taxes. Why is the cheapest 500 ml beer in Thailand some 40 Baht when in Germany it is only 12 Baht including beer excise tax and 19% VAT?

[naboo]

Because the beer companies overcharge so much as well as high taxes?

 

Until now, the government charges tax of, for example, 30B per large beer bottle, the beer company takes 20B per bottle, they get away with it because there is so little competition.

 

Now the government is saying name your price at retail and we take, for example, 70%. If the beer company wants to keep their 20B, the price will need to be 70B per bottle. Beer company knows sales will fall, they can't do that, so they will put on a retail price of 55B, of which they will keep 16.5B. It's a more clever strategy from the government, they get maximum revenue as the beer company will set the price to maximise income.

[wump]

Taxing by the retail value is the silliest way possible. Encourages producers to come up with inferior quality by cutting corners. IMO beer should only be taxed by the alcohol content. 

[jamie2009]

Irrespective of the tax hike the Bars etc will round the drinks up by 5/10 baht as most drinks are in units of 5/10.

[12DrinkMore]

1 hour ago, wump said:

IMO beer should only be taxed by the alcohol content. 

 

Well, I reckon it should not be taxed as it is a staple part of a normal bloke's diet.

[DrPhibes]

2 hours ago, wump said:

Increasing the tax by 5 Baht would not mean astronomical extra revenue. I figure most of the beer price is taxes. Why is the cheapest 500 ml beer in Thailand some 40 Baht when in Germany it is only 12 Baht including beer excise tax and 19% VAT?

Would be at the rate I'm having to down them just to be able to put up with the place.  Moved back 1 yr ago after a 10yr hiatus being back the in the US and wow, it has been culture shock back in CNX.  If you saw a BMW or MBZ 10 yrs ago it was special.  Now the MBZ's, BMW's, and higher end Volvo's are everywhere.  I have seen 5 different late model Ferrari's jetting around town.  What happened in our absence?

[Ulic]

10 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

I doubt the price increase will be as much as the pessimists are saying. For example, if you raise the price of a large Chang by 5 baht and a bottle of Sang Som by 10 baht then the extra revenue generated would be astronomical.

The last time this happened was, if my memory serves me correct was 2012.  Then it was similar increases to what I have stated above. Remember that some of the tax increase will be have to be funded by the breweries and retailers. It is not just the consumer who pays tax on alcohol.

 

One thing I remember from 2012 was that the locals who own small village shops pretty much emptied the shelves of beer and whiskey from the large supermarkets so they could buy at the old price, and sell at the new. so if anyone wants to stock up, then now would be the time to do it.

I am going to guess the large Chang will go up by 5 baht and the 750ml Sangsom by 30 baht.

[jacko45k]

I think the distributors will take a haircut.

My cases of SML are just under 1000 baht, and I believe someone knows I will stop buying them if they become more!

[baansgr]

10 hours ago, DrPhibes said:

Would be at the rate I'm having to down them just to be able to put up with the place.  Moved back 1 yr ago after a 10yr hiatus being back the in the US and wow, it has been culture shock back in CNX.  If you saw a BMW or MBZ 10 yrs ago it was special.  Now the MBZ's, BMW's, and higher end Volvo's are everywhere.  I have seen 5 different late model Ferrari's jetting around town.  What happened in our absence?

Easy credit, minimum wage increases and greed

[bazza73]

The alcohol taxes will have minimal effect if drinkers change their drinking habits. I was drinking every day, and switched to only drinking over the weekend. Feel better for it, and so does my wallet.

[wump]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

I think the distributors will take a haircut.

My cases of SML are just under 1000 baht, and I believe someone knows I will stop buying them if they become more!

I doubt San Miguel Thailand will swallow up more. I remember around 7 years ago, a small bottle of Chang in 7-11 was 25 Baht while a SML was 40 Baht. When I left Thailand a few weeks ago a bottle of Chang with the now smaller bottle had increased to 39 Baht and a SML with still the same size had only risen to 44 Baht.

[Sydebolle]

Well, the smugglers are getting ready and one can expect quite a lot of border traffic at the Cambodian and Laotian front. 
Wines in Laos cost less than half, need to be transported in transit through Thailand at exorbitant rates (a 20' container Europe-Thailand costs as much sea freight as hauling the same container from Bangkok to Nongkhai due to the monopolistic arrangements with transit cargo) and are taxed normally. Nobody in his right mind would even consider "smuggling" any booze into Laos. 
The big bottle of (very quaffable) Beer Lao retails in restaurants as of LAK 10'000/bottle, ice cold anywhere in the land (some places the beer is on its way for three days between the Vientiane brewery and point-of-sale in Phongsali) - LAK 10'000 accounts to THB 45 - retail price this is including the brewery's profit, the logistics and the profit of the retailer (LAK 2'084 per bottle, to be precise). 

Go figure; Beer Lao Brewery is the country's biggest tax payer with more than USD 60 million yearly, in a land of 6.8 million citizen .......... 

[wump]

Forget about the smuggling. There is just some laws that actually get abided by. Ever wondered why Thais don't smoke Cambodian cigarettes when they are only about one quarter of the price in Thailand? Same with Cambodian beer. Can buy it in border towns on the Thai side for 20 Baht per can of Leo, but you won't find this anywhere else.

 

Maybe too risky for the pay-off?

[Jack Mountain]

According to my alcohol dealer (wholesale) a box of small Singha will go from 760 to 780 Baht. 

[bazza73]

55 minutes ago, Jack Mountain said:

According to my alcohol dealer (wholesale) a box of small Singha will go from 760 to 780 Baht. 

That's hardly going to break the bank, is it?

[wanderluster]

how else do you pay for submarines and $5m missiles that are listed on wiki for 1.2M each?