Midweek rant: Tax hikes on booze and fags – the mother of all cock-ups makes Thailand a laughing stock

[webfact]

Midweek rant: Tax hikes on booze and fags – the mother of all cock-ups makes Thailand a laughing stock

 

File photo

 

The raising of the tax rates on cigarettes and alcohol was the mother of all cock-ups from start to finish.

 

Since the first story broke months ago that the rates were to rise confusion has reigned.

 

How on earth could the public be expected to know what was going to happen if the news media had no idea what it all meant?

 

And how was the news media supposed to know when the very people who were issuing the edicts didn’t seem to have a clue either.

 

Right up until the end the government spokesman was remaining tight lipped.

 

Not because of some protocol – because he had no idea himself.

 

Firstly, there was nothing short of widespread panic among smokers and drinkers who feared their sinful habits would become completely unaffordable.

 

Thai media was forced to put out wide ranging figures because no one would in authority would give them a straight answer.

 

Even up until a day before Saturday’s Royal Gazette announcement came into force some were thinking that beer could go up forty baht a bottle. Wine could have a tariff increase obliterating the industry. 

 

Cigarettes could be as much as five baht more – EACH!

 

Only damage could be done with all that speculation.

 

So it came to pass that everyone had to wait until the weekend when the first trickle of half decent explanations started to come in.

 

And people were obliged to see what the effect actually was in bars and shops.

 

It is just not good enough.

 

I am not a smoker or much of a drinker myself – in fact I would like to see fags outlawed – but it was appalling to see this public relations disaster.

 

The stories in Thai were not scaremongering – there was legitimate concern amid the confusion.

 

But tourists would have read the news in English and maybe thought twice about visiting in the future. Who wouldn’t if you thought a bottle of wine you could get for a few euros in the Med would set you back forty or fifty in Thailand.

 

Aren’t tourists the modern “god” who have to be looked after at all costs?

 

People who live in Thailand – Thais and foreigners alike - were treated like completely unimportant consumers. Just as the tourists were.

 

Some even started hoarding amid the growing concern.

 

It was a situation that in many countries would have had the press calling for the collective heads of politicians and the excise department.

 

Why couldn’t they tell us exactly what such and such a popular cigarette brand would cost after mid- September?

 

Why couldn’t they say how much a certain beer, spirit or type of wine would go up?

 

Why couldn’t they allay some concerns?

 

Because they are incompetent and treated the public shoddily, that’s why. The public who they should be serving.

 

Then in the aftermath confusion still remains.

 

Unless you rely on what is happening on the ground, you’d need a PhD in Maths, and casuistry, to figure out what it all means.

 

Not surprisingly perhaps, the rates have gone up a mere fraction of what many feared. But the damage is done.

 

The authorities even had the gall to say some rates would come down – what a scandalous smokescreen for their ineptitude and inefficiency that is.

 

The authorities claim that the tax hikes are designed to raise more money for treating people for diseases related to consuming the products.

 

All fair and dandy – but has anyone with a functioning brain cell done some research to figure out if the rises will actually raise any money for state coffers?

 

Has anyone looked into whether more people will give up as a result?

 

Given the way the whole situation has been handled, one somehow doubts it.

 

For we are still faced with the utter absurdity that E-cigarettes – the use of which is very likely indeed to see health benefits for individual and state – are virtually criminalized.

 

Users face harassment and sellers and producers lengthy jail time – even up to ten years.

 

Why not tax the industry – one that can be seen selling openly on many street corners in Europe?

 

Or is it just another example of two faced officialdom engaging in protectionism?

 

The whole situation makes Thailand a laughing stock.

 

Rooster

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-09-20

[nausea]

Spot on. The gobbledygook didn't stop some TV posters though did it; enlightening us with authorative analyses of what it all meant (555).

[Samui Bodoh]

34 minutes ago, webfact said:

The public who they should be serving.

 

They are not serving the public. They expect the public to be serving them.

 

That is the problem; when you are neither accountable nor responsible, it does not matter what you do.

 

 

[ezzra]

Under any other normal circumstances i would agreed with the OP,

except that almost all governments around the the world have been

using these tax raises to fill up a shortfalls in revenues under the guise 

of doing a good thing for the people's health,

so expect more of the same to come, somebody has to pay for the big

boys toys costly mistakes and endlessly supporting the farmers

of this country.... 

[Thailand]

The hub of laughing stocks TIT

[cooked]

If you want to suppress alcohol and tobacco misuse, double or triple prices. 

Can't do that, revenue would be lost. I saw this happening in Europe for years, prices were raised just a bit every year, under the pretext of health concerns. People carried on as usual after a week or two. 

 

 

[geronimo]

It seems this government cannot shoot themselves in the foot, They keep missing.

 

[Thian]

Fathers of families will still drink and smoke, now there's less money for the household and kids.

 

And people who stop smoking might get fat as a farang in the West, causing diabetic, high blood pressure and so on...So they'll buy bigger cars, produce more exhaust gases, more traffic jams, and so on.

 

On my flight to Thailand i had to sit next to a fat Indian who's belly was hanging over the armrest onto my space for 10 cm.....Then he even put his pumpui on my arm and a blanket over it....i complainted 3 times at te stewards but they couldn't do anything..fat pig he was...terrible.

[Jeremy50]

16 minutes ago, Thian said:

Fathers of families will still drink and smoke, now there's less money for the household and kids.

 

And people who stop smoking might get fat as a farang in the West, causing diabetic, high blood pressure and so on...So they'll buy bigger cars, produce more exhaust gases, more traffic jams, and so on.

 

On my flight to Thailand i had to sit next to a fat Indian who's belly was hanging over the armrest onto my space for 10 cm.....Then he even put his pumpui on my arm and a blanket over it....i complainted 3 times at te stewards but they couldn't do anything..fat pig he was...terrible.

Fat Indians, fat everyone. The world is becoming fatter and more stupid by the day.

[YetAnother]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Because they are incompetent and treated the public shoddily, that’s why. The public who they should be serving.

not surprising really; a corrupt military, oozing of nepotism and cronyism, trying to run a country without having any required skills, experience or training will not go well

[AGareth2]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Because they are incompetent and treated the public shoddily, that’s why. The public who they should be serving.

well there we go for another 20 years

[PremiumLane]

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

Under any other normal circumstances i would agreed with the OP,

except that almost all governments around the the world have been

using these tax raises to fill up a shortfalls in revenues under the guise 

of doing a good thing for the people's health,

so expect more of the same to come, somebody has to pay for the big

boys toys costly mistakes and endlessly supporting the farmers

of this country.... 

Yeah, damn those poor people, they are always the cause of economic problems in countries around the world 

[PremiumLane]

46 minutes ago, Thian said:

And people who stop smoking might get fat as a farang in the West, causing diabetic, high blood pressure and so on...So they'll buy bigger cars, produce more exhaust gases, more traffic jams, and so on.

I could say something, but I would probably get banned 

[wgdanson]

I could not understand, and still do not, how the tax on a bottle of beer is dependant on the retail price.......which is dependant on the taxes.........which are dependant on the retail price.................................................

[rkidlad]

It is all very confusing.

 

The best one was from a newspaper I cannot mention. They said, and I'm paraphrasing, 'Imported wine over a 1000 baht will now become 110 baht more expensive. Wine under a 1000 baht a bottle, most of it local, would be 25 baht cheaper'. 

 

Most of it local? Does this mean all local wine and imported wine under 1000 baht a bottle? I don't see many local wines in the supermarket. They're all French and Italian, etc. I've never spent less than 400, or more than 800 baht for a bottle of wine. I've never bought local wine. 

 

Anyhoo, I bought a bottle of Italian wine at the weekend and it was the usual price. Missus asked the wine lady about the taxes and she didn't even bother to pretend to BS. Just said she didn't know. 

Edited September 20, 2017 by rkidlad

[inThailand]

Cock-ups are just part of our culture. You falangs no understand!

[ovi1kanobi]

What a ignorant article who cares. wish I could get back the time it took too read. Real dribble!

[halloween]

1 hour ago, cooked said:

If you want to suppress alcohol and tobacco misuse, double or triple prices. 

Can't do that, revenue would be lost. I saw this happening in Europe for years, prices were raised just a bit every year, under the pretext of health concerns. People carried on as usual after a week or two. 

 

 

The percentage of people who smoke cigarettes daily has been steadily dropping for decades in those countries that have introduced increasing taxation.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/trends/cig_smoking/index.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_tobacco_consumption

[Jack Mountain]

Stppoed reading after this: – in fact I would like to see fags outlawed –

[Orac]

The UK have a similar system where excise taxes are announced in the budget, some with immediate effect and i don't hear a lot of complaints about them not leaking the details before hand.

 

My irony meter has gone into overdrive that someone is ranting about speculation being wildly  wrong on Thai Visa.

 

[cooked]

34 minutes ago, halloween said:

The percentage of people who smoke cigarettes daily has been steadily dropping for decades in those countries that have introduced increasing taxation.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/trends/cig_smoking/index.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_tobacco_consumption

Because of education, not because of minor increases in costs.

[mikebell]

When quality booze gets too expensive, quality tourists will go elsewhere.  This is called killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

[CantSpell]

Biggest cock-up of the year frankly...

 

Announcement done over the week-end already, as of Tuesday night, biggest beverage supplier in my city can still not figure out the new prices...

 

7/11 (biggest retailer if I am not mistaken):

- has changed the display of some cigarettes but hasn't change the price in the cashing machine...

- Still selling beers at last week price so WTH is happening 555

 

Seems nobody has a clue about which brand is subject to how much increase... well done 

Edited September 20, 2017 by CantSpell

[geronimo]

1 hour ago, wgdanson said:

I could not understand, and still do not, how the tax on a bottle of beer is dependant on the retail price.......which is dependant on the taxes.........which are dependant on the retail price.................................................

Drink the beer and worry not about such details.

[Stargeezr]

Glad tpo hear that the raise was no too severe for booze in general, guess I won,t  have to

bring too much extra money this trip.

Geezer

[nev]

Western bars up and down the country will try to milk as much out of this rise as they can, the prices they are charging are way over the top, even up here in Khonkaen western bars 100 baht a large Leo but Thai bars are 70 baht. I expect next time I go and have a drink in town to see 110 or even 120 baht a bottle.

[alex8912]

Booze, fags and cocks. Oh my

[Trexpat]

3 hours ago, Thian said:

Fathers of families will still drink and smoke, now there's less money for the household and kids.

 

And people who stop smoking might get fat as a farang in the West, causing diabetic, high blood pressure and so on...So they'll buy bigger cars, produce more exhaust gases, more traffic jams, and so on.

 

On my flight to Thailand i had to sit next to a fat Indian who's belly was hanging over the armrest onto my space for 10 cm.....Then he even put his pumpui on my arm and a blanket over it....i complainted 3 times at te stewards but they couldn't do anything..fat pig he was...terrible.

Whats the relevance here! And why is the ethnicity or nationality of the person important. What a rambling load of nonsense.

[inThailand]

Has Happiness to the people, been replaced with Stick it to the poor?

[White Christmas13]

And people who stop smoking might get fat as a farang in the West, causing diabetic, high blood pressure and so on...So they'll buy bigger cars, produce more exhaust gases, more traffic jams, and so on.

 

What a lot of BS maybe you should educate your self, the most overweight and obese country is

American Samosa 93 percent is overweight or obese and 1 in 3 is suffering from diabetes

and they don't have fast food outlets and it is hardly in the west