Sharp tax hike on alcohol and tobacco effective immediately

[rooster59]

Sharp tax hike on alcohol and tobacco effective immediately

By The Nation

 

 

New excise tax rates effective starting Saturday, September 16, hit alcoholic beverages hard.

 

The rates, published in the Royal Gazette, adjust the tax rate for beer to 22 per cent of retail price and Bt430 per liter of alcoholic content

For wine made from grapes ,the tax rate is Bt1,500 per litre of alcoholic content for a wine bottle not exceeding Bt1,000.

 

Wine priced higher than Bt1,000 will be taxed at 20 per cent of its price and Bt1,500 per liter of alcoholic content.

 

The rate for wine made from grapes mixed with other fruits is 10 per cent of the price and Bt150 per litre of alcoholic content. These rates are effective from now onwards.

 

The white spirit tax rate is 2 per cent of retail price and Bt155 per litre of alcoholic content, while for other kinds of spirits the rate is 20 per cent of retail price and Bt255 per litre of alcoholic content 

 

The tax rate for cigarette is 20 per cent of retail price for a pack not exceeding Bt60 and Bt1.20 per roll. 

 

The rate goes up to 40 per cent for a cigarette pack priced more than Bt60. It is effective from September 16, 2017, until September 30 ,2019.

 

And the rate for cigars is 10 per cent of price and Bt1.2 per gram effective Saturday.

 

Source: Excise Department

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30326850

[maeab101]

This is good news for Thailand.

[Samuel Smith]

What were the previous rates?  

[otherstuff1957]

14 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Wine priced higher than Bt1,000 will be taxed at 20 per cent of its price and Bt1,500 per liter of alcoholic content.

 

14 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

The white spirit tax rate is 2 per cent of retail price and Bt155 per litre of alcoholic content, while for other kinds of spirits the rate is 20 per cent of retail price and Bt255 per litre of alcoholic content 

 Just as everyone expected... cheap lao khao and expensive wine. 

[Techno Viking]

3 minutes ago, Samuel Smith said:

What were the previous rates?  

Dont really matter, those rates were rolled in to the retail price and these news taxes are on top of that.

[monkfish]

Looks like white spirit is the way to go then! Not very good for the liver mind.

Cheers

[z42]

Absolutely appalling. I don't drink much and don't smoke.. But the prices in line with what your rank and file earn is a joke.

A lot of speculation abound that the coffers are running really low. These ridiculous hikes are going to be used to plug the hole, or are we going to expect denials on both fronts (not broke and sin taxes used in proper way) ?

[Maverell]

A few people will be pissed by this .....well perhaps not !

[Samuel Smith]

2 minutes ago, Techno Viking said:

Dont really matter, those rates were rolled in to the retail price and these news taxes are on top of that.

"The rates, published in the Royal Gazette, adjust the tax rate for beer to 22 per cent of retail price and Bt430 per liter of alcoholic content"

 

Where does it say on top of existing rates?

[marino28]

As I understand this is just the start. In the next 20 year they will increase it to arrive at 3000 thb for 1 lit of alcohol. 

Edited September 16, 2017 by marino28

[Techno Viking]

Just now, Samuel Smith said:

"The rates, published in the Royal Gazette, adjust the tax rate for beer to 22 per cent of retail price and Bt430 per liter of alcoholic content"

 

Where does it say on top of existing rates?

the new rates are based on the existing retail price.

[jvs]

So what will be the increase per bottle of beer?I guess that is what a lot of people would like to know.

It will not last long anyway,as soon as they find out this increase will actually make them less money they will revoke this real fast.

 

[marino28]

This one was the old tax scheme . 

[baboon]

1 minute ago, jvs said:

So what will be the increase per bottle of beer?I guess that is what a lot of people would like to know.

It will not last long anyway,as soon as they find out this increase will actually make them less money they will revoke this real fast.

 

No, they will hike up the prices further to cover the lost revenue.

[marino28]

As I understand the idea is to arrive at 3000 bath of tax for 1 lit of alchool. But they will do it little by little in the next 20 years. As for the price hike now I don't think is major . Maybe 10% of the price of a beer. Just my opinion 

[lonewolf99]

Coupled with the nonsense from TAT on the Pattaya news forum this is going to be a serious nail in the coffin of the tourist industry.

I was in Jomtien a month a ago and in a well known establishment that serves western food.

Gammon steak and chips, 1 bottle of beer for me and a Thai dish and a bottle of water for the girlfriend. Then I worked out the cost at that days rate for the UK pound against the bill in Baht.

 

11 pounds 90 pence.................................and this before this new tax hike on the booze.

 

The country is dead on its feet.

[maeab101]

Maybe this will help some people to stop drinking.

[Wiggy]

By my (hopefully wrong) calculation, a 5 litre box of the fruit wine that I buy will go from 959 baht to 1,934 baht.

[idman]

I guess a trip to my local market is the only way I will be able to see the actual impact on my alcohol budget. I think I will hit a few pubs and the two Go Go bars here in Chiang Mai after the Formula 1 qualifying and see how they handled the price increase by upping prices across the board, i.e. my drink and a ladydrink. If the prices have increased enough perhaps the riff raff, twatpackers, obnoxious ExPat louts will find their budget cannot handle the increase and they will no longer be a nuisance. One can hope.

[Wiggy]

Just now, maeab101 said:

Maybe this will help some people to stop drinking.

More likely drive more people to the sometimes lethal lao khao.

[inThailand]

Adjusted rates. 

 

What was the old rate and what will be the new retail prices? Its like a cat and mouse game going on! 

[naboo]

The killer for the retail industry is the cost of a licence to sell alcohol increases from 2000B/year to 50,000B/year. Again, the small man is hurt, large retailers will only need to add a few satang to cover this, but Mom and Pop will need to raise prices considerably.

[lonewolf99]

It could make the place go like India where the locals try to make their own hooch and blind themselves or die as well....

[marino28]

4 minutes ago, Wiggy said:

By my (hopefully wrong) calculation, a 5 litre box of the fruit wine that I buy will go from 959 baht to 1,934 baht.

If the wine you buy is mixed with other fruits and not only grapes I don't think there wil be a huge difference in price. Different story for the real wine that will be taxed a lot 

[Wiggy]

1 minute ago, marino28 said:

If the wine you buy is mixed with other fruits and not only grapes I don't think there wil be a huge difference in price. Different story for the real wine that will be taxed a lot 

You are correct, I misread it as 1,500 baht per litre of alcohol, not 150 as stated in the OP. My bad. 

[PaddyDaddy]

2 minutes ago, naboo said:

The killer for the retail industry is the cost of a licence to sell alcohol increases from 2000B/year to 50,000B/year. Again, the small man is hurt, large retailers will only need to add a few satang to cover this, but Mom and Pop will need to raise prices considerably.

I only paid 1100 for this years licence. Where did you get your 50,000 bht figure from

[Happy Time Thai]

17 minutes ago, jvs said:

So what will be the increase per bottle of beer?I guess that is what a lot of people would like to know.

It will not last long anyway,as soon as they find out this increase will actually make them less money they will revoke this real fast.

 

Yeah, right after end of high season. Surely just a coincidence. 

[Golden Triangle]

16 minutes ago, marino28 said:

This one was the old tax scheme . 

I know these are the old rates, but did anyone see who produced the info ? right at the bottom under Chewing Tobacco 

[imaderbyfan]

12 minutes ago, jvs said:

So what will be the increase per bottle of beer?I guess that is what a lot of people would like to know.

It will not last long anyway,as soon as they find out this increase will actually make them less money they will revoke this real fast.

 

Well I work it out as follows, please correct me if I am wrong.

If you pay 70 baht for a 630cl  bottle of 5% beer.

Add 22 baht on the price of the bottle, then another 13.3 baht for its alcohol content.

A total increase of 35 .3 baht on its retail price.

Expect a somewhat bigger increase from the bar/restaurant owners.

If my calculations re the alcohol content are correct that is pretty hefty....

 

[Bluespunk]

22 minutes ago, jvs said:

So what will be the increase per bottle of beer?I guess that is what a lot of people would like to know.

It will not last long anyway,as soon as they find out this increase will actually make them less money they will revoke this real fast.

 

If the increases are to discourage drinking then less revenue will mean a success. 

 

Personally, I don't think revenue will drop. 

 

Drinkers drink. 

 

Smokers smoke. 

Edited September 16, 2017 by Bluespunk