Careful what you promise

[rooster59]

Thailand election: Careful what you promise

 

By Wichit Chaitrong 
The Nation weekend

 

Pheu Thai Party

 

Depleted coffers, unpopular taxes, army resistance could leave ambitious welfare proposals unfulfilled

 

Political parties face formidable challenges if they intend to pursue their generous welfare pledges in earnest. If they are elected to govern, they’ll have to deal with a shortfall in tax revenues, inevitable coalition horse-trading and the inherent difficulties of trimming the defence budget.

 

 

The Future Forward Party has pledged to spend Bt650 billion annually on comprehensive social welfare, tacking Bt300 billion more on top of the current outlay. The party is promising monthly cash grants for children, youth and the elderly. 

 

The proposal echoes a scheme once suggested by independent economist Somchai Jitsuchon, who also suggested boosting cradle-to-grave social welfare expenditures by Bt300 billion. 

 

 

The Democrat Party has pledged universal grants of Bt1,000 per month for children up to age eight. Its plan for free education through vocational level is equally ambitious, since so many parents currently have to borrow from the Student Loan Fund to afford tuition fees, burdening them and often resulting in loans going unpaid.

 

 

The Pheu Thai Party has promised subsidies for rice farmers of Bt5,000 per tonne per family, up to a maximum output of 15 tonnes. It also vows to boost the minimum wage to help low-income earners. The party has done won all of the most recent elections, thanks in large part to its populist policies.

 

The Phalang Pracharat Party has pledged to cut the personal income tax rate by 10 per cent and increase wages.

 

 

The Action Coalition for Thailand Party is proffering cash transfers for underprivileged families, 12 months’ compensation for the unemployed and free vocational education.

 

Shortfalls in government revenues, however, are likely to render most if not all of these promises impractical.

 

Thai governments have run fiscal deficits ever since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, pushing public debt to 42 per cent of gross domestic product currently. That figure is expected to rise to 48.5 per cent in 2023 due to accelerated investment in major infrastructure. 

 

That severely limits any additional spending on social welfare.

 

Future Forward has proposed higher land and building taxes as one solution to overcome budget constraints, arguing that the rates set out in legislation passed recently by the National Legislative Assembly were low.

 

Chatu Mongol Sonakul, leader of the Action Coalition, advocates merging the Revenue, Customs and Excise departments for more efficient collection of taxes. 

 

Pairoj Vongvipanond, former dean of economics at Chulalongkorn University, agreed that land and building taxes could be higher, but the idea could prove unpopular among partners in any coalition government. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30365055

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-02

 

[Vacuum]

Qute uni-girl.

 

[sammieuk1]

Is horse and cart what the junta promised???? 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by sammieuk1

[boonrawdcnx]

Just tax the people who own 100’s and 1000’s of Rai and leave it as unattended eyesores all over the country! And yes those cheaters who own a piece of land worth 900 million in the middle of the city put 2 cows on it and say it is agricultural land to avoid taxes.

I forgot of course why this would be unpopular - because the ones who are supposed to pass the legislation and their pals are the ones who own millions of Rai !


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[happy chappie]

Promises,promises,promises.blah,blah,blah.one thing is for sure corruption,corruption,corruption,bad governing and a coup.repeat cycle and rinse.

[nong38]

1 hour ago, sammieuk1 said:

Is horse and cart what the junta promised???? 

 

 

Que brake failure!

[stanleycoin]

That picture reminded me of someone else for a minute. 

 

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Qute uni-girl.

Your standards appear quite a lot lower than mine.

 

I'm thinking disbanding the army, air force and navy would free up a lot of money for the country.

Edited March 2, 2019 by BritManToo

[JAG]

4 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Is horse and cart what the junta promised???? 

 

 

 

[klauskunkel]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Political parties face formidable challenges if they intend to pursue their generous welfare pledges in earnest. If they are elected to govern, they’ll have to deal with a shortfall in tax revenues, inevitable coalition horse-trading and the inherent difficulties of trimming the defence budget.

Nope, none of that. If they are elected to govern, they will face another coup. That's all.

[RichardColeman]

Is the guy walking behind collecting dung from the horse or the PM ? 

[hansnl]

6 hours ago, boonrawdcnx said:

Just tax the people who own 100’s and 1000’s of Rai and leave it as unattended eyesores all over the country! And yes those cheaters who own a piece of land worth 900 million in the middle of the city put 2 cows on it and say it is agricultural land to avoid taxes.

I forgot of course why this would be unpopular - because the ones who are supposed to pass the legislation and their pals are the ones who own millions of Rai !


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Like PT and its boss TS?

[blackcab]

An off topic post and replies have been removed.

[Odysseus123]

Oh,goodness me..

 

Jeez this is hard hitting stuff.

 

I mean really gut wrenching,solar plexus punishing stuff..

 

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Your standards appear quite a lot lower than mine.

 

I'm thinking disbanding the army, air force and navy would free up a lot of money for the country.

Can't do that. The army, air force and navy aren't there to defend Thailand from invaders. They exist to defend the status quo.

IMHO promises by politicians here are just as likely to be honoured as anywhere else.

[johng]

3 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

That picture reminded me of someone else for a minute. 

 

 

Ahh the Goldenman/glitterman in his native environment ( Wimbledon ? )

and Pattaya years ago.

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, boonrawdcnx said:

And yes those cheaters who own a piece of land worth 900 million in the middle of the city put 2 cows on it and say it is agricultural land to avoid taxes.

I'm not sure that's how the new property tax law works - once it becomes operational by the next elected government.

The property value appears it will be valued according to its zoned use versus current use (ie., rental value based on an agricultural use). So vacant land in the middle of the city is likely zoned as commercial use so it will be valued as commercial property and not as cow-grazing property. The idea behind the structure of this tax in part was to discourage land speculation of undeveloped properties that carry low tax rates until a buyer decides to develop the property.

The proposed tax is very low but perhaps appropriate for the three-year transition period before it begins to increase automatically. It's easier to increase taxes when the tax structure is already in place.

But the tax rate should further be progressive - the larger the tax parcel size the larger the tax rate as the property will have greater utility and benefit from a scale of economy.

[connda]

Socialist programs are great until the check comes due.  Then the newly minted middle class finds out that it's paying for most everything while getting naught in return.

[AlexRich]

The military are promising a coup if they don’t vote the right way.

[DrTuner]

On 3/2/2019 at 8:20 AM, sammieuk1 said:

Is horse and cart what the junta promised???? 

 

 

Thailand 4.0

[Vacuum]

20 hours ago, connda said:

Socialist programs are great until the check comes due.  Then the newly minted middle class finds out that it's paying for most everything while getting naught in return.

Sounds like most of the western countries..

 

[DrTuner]

20 hours ago, connda said:

Socialist programs are great until the check comes due.  

Aye, down with OPP.

 

 

[seahorse]

21 hours ago, connda said:

Socialist programs are great until the check comes due.  Then the newly minted middle class finds out that it's paying for most everything while getting naught in return.

Best education in the world

[Reigntax]

On 3/2/2019 at 12:20 PM, sammieuk1 said:

Is horse and cart what the junta promised???? 

 

 

I thought the horse backed out a yellow turd that landed in the cart

[baboon]

On 3/2/2019 at 4:55 PM, connda said:

Socialist programs are great until the check comes due.  Then the newly minted middle class finds out that it's paying for most everything while getting naught in return.

Better then to bail out those fine banks and financial institutions in order to pay for their bonuses. I mean, that is money so much better spent...

[Narratio]

I'm looking at the horse drawn cart carrying Uncle and I see a little teddy bear hanging down below the cart... Aaaaaaaahhhhh!