New Luxury Tax On Internet Usage In Thailand

[begsaresponse]

Great April Fool George.

I fell for it 'hook line and sinker' but mamanoodle ( must ensure I spell it correct!) said what day is it? I said I will go down the road to 7/11 as they are open every day. Obviously that was not her point!

I was thinking of buying a big flashing dongle ....yes so....my mind was working overtime!

[thaibear1]

BANGKOK 2007-04-01

ThaiVisa.com has agreed to pay the internet usage tax for all foreigners in Thailand from its vast advertising revenues.

Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok called this unprecedented move by ThaiVisa.com "another sign that foreigners try to interfere in our affairs".

It is time to ask how big is the brain of certain authorities. Every where unfriendly the Faragn pay much more, even many are stole by National Park entry with a waterfall you never can see because no normal access. Only after you paid 400 Bath insted 40 THB as Thai the truth you get learn. The near Asian countries smile and welcome Farangs and offer many facilities. Let's go

[Peter Bysouth]

I really don't understand this "New Luxury tax on internet usage in Thailand"

Just received a PM from Administration telling me that all Thaivisa Members who haven't actually been in Thailand since January 1, 2007 will be disconnected as from tonight because of the high costs involved. Just members & posters living in Thailand or very frequent visitors are allowed to stay 'onboard' with Thaivisa.... That's utter nonsense!

I haven't been in LOS since some 5 months ago, but I feel discriminated now !

Why on earth would I be disconnected from Thaivisa?

Anybody else received this message ?

I'm real angry now !

LaoPo

I think it's a good idea it will give me 2 more hours free time as I will not be using the internet

[Beavis and Butthead]

Nice april fool's joke and look at all who fell for it

[seagull]

The Singaporeans will move the Shin satellite somewhat closer to their country? How will they do that? Who is fabricating these stories with the only intention to create more bad feelings towards the Singaporeans...?

I also heard that they will reposition the sun to shift the climate change to Thailand only...

Don't laugh, the Singaporeans can do it by year 2010 April the first.

[DFCarlson]

Hey, April Fool or not, let's not give 'em any ideas...

[bob6023]

I was informed that Irish expats cant use a dongle,

it has to be a "Dougal"

and the date today is.......

[ggwyn]

rotfl

What a joke! LOL

Surely a joke that we must all have to use our new dongles by midnight. LOL

And that inference that foriegners trawl devient sites and Thais only use it for serious study

An April fools joke of course! LOL

I don't mind a good laugh but HEY! This April fools joke will be giving people heartburn.

Greg

[bob6023]

OK, George, That was ###### good. You had me going. A Dongle from 7/11. Oh boy !!!!!

Be careful don't give 'em ideas

[Bianca Hein]

Dear Thai Visa,

This is simply to advise you that you that my Attorney, Bernie, will be contacting you for damages incurred in the loss of time and money spent in searching for dongles.

I have been informed by the scientific community that not just any dongle will do. Such shoddy reporting could of at least included the primary hardware element which is the "angle on the dangle" to get the dongle to work.

I advise you to respond promptly with any communications to Attorney Bernie.

I am surprised that this low level story supercedes the paramount trade issue of the importation of chicken lips from China.

Yours in good humor,

Blonde Bomber

[CHAIYES]

Oh boy this thread has got everyone's attention alright... its almost midday and still showing well over 570 using reading it..!

Happy songkran.... splash plenty of water to cool the steam....

[farang2002]

My wife and I have seriously considered moving from the Untied States to Thailand to retire and spend the nestegg that we have saved over the years in the land of smiles. We even bought a nice piece of property there last year.

Lately We've been having second thoughts due to the appreciation of the baht, the terrorists unrest, and the new laws that seem to have an unfriendly "anti foreigner" tilt.

This new internet tax of 940 baht for Thais and 1490 baht for foreigners is another bad sign that the welcome mat for foreigners is being withdrawn. It's bad enough that the government is charging almost as much in tax as it is for the service but to charge foreigners more than Thais because, according to Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok,

"foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website lamock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, ecommerce, and furthering their education" creates an unfair two tiered system based on cultural stereotyping.

I hope this is just another rumor and not really going to happen.

If Thailand really wants foreigners to retire in Thailand and spend their foreign exchange it's going to have to provide more than a tax to lure them

If , on the other hand, Thailand is fed up with foreigners, retirees, tourists and businessmen, it's applying the right measures to scare them away

I'm in agreement with you... sure looks like the Thai government is making it more and more difficult for foreigeners to stay long-term in Thailand. Too bad!

[jayceenik]

OK, it's Joke Day. But this particular "joke" could give ideas to certain politicos...

[khun_j]

*g*

dongles from 7-11, oh yeah

this was a good one, thanks!

[toptom]

April, April - very good 1st oF aPRIL jOKE

[NanLaew]

I went straight to 7/11 and got my dongle. There are actually multi colored dongles depending on your income and it's based on the honor system.

I picked up a gold one with a diamond inlay which will cost me 3000 baht monthly, but I'm more than happy to do it!

Thank You Thailand, I love it here!!

sent my tilac out to 7-11, came back all excited saying dongles all gone but the gold shops in pattaya klang are selling 'speshin' dongles in nung, song, sahm and hah baht denominations. she say motocy taxi boy recommended a hah baht dongle which seems a bit expensive to me. she says it 'dee mahk mahk' but to stop the gold shop charging farang tax, i just give her the money and she go get laew-laew.

[richard10365]

If i use my dongle myself is that called dongle-bation?

[gharknes]

How many out there are wondering?????

If its a gag it a cracker, if its not ........ Oh sh*t

and today is ?????????????????

[papabill]

My wife and I have seriously considered moving from the Untied States to Thailand to retire and spend the nestegg that we have saved over the years in the land of smiles. We even bought a nice piece of property there last year.

Lately We've been having second thoughts due to the appreciation of the baht, the terrorists unrest, and the new laws that seem to have an unfriendly "anti foreigner" tilt.

This new internet tax of 940 baht for Thais and 1490 baht for foreigners is another bad sign that the welcome mat for foreigners is being withdrawn. It's bad enough that the government is charging almost as much in tax as it is for the service but to charge foreigners more than Thais because, according to Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok,

"foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website lamock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, ecommerce, and furthering their education" creates an unfair two tiered system based on cultural stereotyping.

I hope this is just another rumor and not really going to happen.

If Thailand really wants foreigners to retire in Thailand and spend their foreign exchange it's going to have to provide more than a tax to lure them

If , on the other hand, Thailand is fed up with foreigners, retirees, tourists and businessmen, it's applying the right measures to scare them away

april fool anyone?

[annsamui]

Has anyone got onto the fact it is April Fools day???!!!

[maxisrael]

If they applied a tax on the speed that I actually get versus the speed that I pay for, I'd get a BIG refund every month.

So do I !! pay for 512 MBps get 217 Mbps when I plug-in the phone no signal anymore and besides that no signal at all sveral times a day,

[ski]

This gets me pretty nervous....

I play online poker for a living and if I do decide to play (obviously not saying that I have) in thailand how easy does this make it for the Gov't to track everything? Could I run into legal issues with this?

I know the chance is tiny but I really do not want to end up in a prison for any reason here....

[blam]

Cloudy morning here in Phuket, slept in today. Got up at at 11am. Made coffee, checked email, checked personal websites, checked thaivisa.com.

11:15am: The myocardial infarction was terminal.

11:30am: In fear of mia yai, mia noi decided to check me into Patong Hospital then ran off with Thai boyfriend.

11:45am: hospital gave me the boot and told me to stay away from thaivisa.com for a while... no prescription issued for being a complete fool either.

Thanks George, needed that! Perfectly executed and horrific as hel_l.

Nicely done bud, XLNT stuff!

[starbaseone]

My wife and I have seriously considered moving from the Untied States to Thailand to retire and spend the nestegg that we have saved over the years in the land of smiles. We even bought a nice piece of property there last year.

Lately We've been having second thoughts due to the appreciation of the baht, the terrorists unrest, and the new laws that seem to have an unfriendly "anti foreigner" tilt.

This new internet tax of 940 baht for Thais and 1490 baht for foreigners is another bad sign that the welcome mat for foreigners is being withdrawn. It's bad enough that the government is charging almost as much in tax as it is for the service but to charge foreigners more than Thais because, according to Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok,

"foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website lamock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, ecommerce, and furthering their education" creates an unfair two tiered system based on cultural stereotyping.

I hope this is just another rumor and not really going to happen.

If Thailand really wants foreigners to retire in Thailand and spend their foreign exchange it's going to have to provide more than a tax to lure them

If , on the other hand, Thailand is fed up with foreigners, retirees, tourists and businessmen, it's applying the right measures to scare them away

Good point. You should go somewhere else. IT IS CLEAR that THAILAND DOES NOT WANT US HERE. I have lived here a year and spend A LOT of money, but LOS doesnt seem to want it. Many other countries will actually woo you there and give you a welcome. I am fed up, and I think I will leave Thailand later this year. Too bad, the people are nice. Their gov't, though, really doesn't think with a bank book. Even if Thailand goes bankrupt and folds into oblivion, the gov't is unlikely to see the logical connection and try to get foreign money. To their last dying day, LOS will still give out the westerner and his wallet.

Good Luck to all.

[dishrace]

My wife and I have seriously considered moving from the Untied States to Thailand to retire and spend the nestegg that we have saved over the years in the land of smiles. We even bought a nice piece of property there last year.

Lately We've been having second thoughts due to the appreciation of the baht, the terrorists unrest, and the new laws that seem to have an unfriendly "anti foreigner" tilt.

This new internet tax of 940 baht for Thais and 1490 baht for foreigners is another bad sign that the welcome mat for foreigners is being withdrawn. It's bad enough that the government is charging almost as much in tax as it is for the service but to charge foreigners more than Thais because, according to Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok,

"foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website lamock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, ecommerce, and furthering their education" creates an unfair two tiered system based on cultural stereotyping.

I hope this is just another rumor and not really going to happen.

If Thailand really wants foreigners to retire in Thailand and spend their foreign exchange it's going to have to provide more than a tax to lure them

If , on the other hand, Thailand is fed up with foreigners, retirees, tourists and businessmen, it's applying the right measures to scare them away

This whole country has gotten to be a big JOKE. And to even consider “a luxury tax” on a service so inferior to almost every other Asian and western country shows that the Thais have lost their minds. Once upon a time, when I moved here 5 years ago, it was quite nice for a third world country…but it is over subscribed now due to greed and incompetence by all parties and has it has now unfortunately been relegated to fourth world if that’s possible.

Traffic now is worse than most western cities, compound by too many vehicles, no roads or access roads to anywhere any longer and that is made worse by the fact that the few decent roads are now ripped up for sewer work or water or placing electricity underground or beautification (I assume the recently surfacing mounds of dirt that are appearing in the middle of Sukhumvit are for anything but providing safe cross over points for those stuck on the east side of Pattaya – all of those with signals have been done away with as well) or on and on. It takes over an hour just to go to a decent restaurant if you can find one. And the driving, underscored by the lack of courtesy and law enforcement well that’s just another joke on the civilized. India was worse but now Pattaya is the same same!!!

Basic infrastructure, water, electricity, land line phone/internet service is disrupted daily and now they want to tax internet even more…it would be a luxury to even have decent internet access and a cost that is already twice or triple what is paid in the western world…but you can’t get it here.

Yes to all those who say…love it or leave it…I am leaving for good in mid April. Once upon a time life was good here…but now it is lost to too many in search of the same thing and a government and unfortunately, its people, who have turn against the invading foreigner and decided to swindle, mike, cheat and rob him blind until he gains his senses and leaves while he can! Oh yea the Thai baht and economy are so strong now…good for them…it has gotten too expensive for me now too!!!

Good riddance LOnoS!!!!! Sorry for the ranting…it has been building up for a while as I have made my decision to finally leave for good…had to let it out for peace of mind before I left!!!!!

[drnikhil]

LOL! GOOD APRIL'S FOOL JOKE> HA HA HA

[dkg1960]

I really don't understand this "New Luxury tax on internet usage in Thailand"

Just received a PM from Administration telling me that all Thaivisa Members who haven't actually been in Thailand since January 1, 2007 will be disconnected as from tonight because of the high costs involved. Just members & posters living in Thailand or very frequent visitors are allowed to stay 'onboard' with Thaivisa.... That's utter nonsense!

I haven't been in LOS since some 5 months ago, but I feel discriminated now !

Why on earth would I be disconnected from Thaivisa?

Anybody else received this message ?

I'm real angry now !

LaoPo

[Basset]

Very, Very good George, now you know full well Sundays is my Old Soldiers Day in the bar, plenty of drink and telling of stories. When I told them this one they were all for taking up arms again and advancing on the nearest CAT office, then I saw the replys!!!!!!!!.But I aint told them yet

[icygal]

Cool... kekek

Edited April 1, 2007 by icygal

[Thaising]

Well done George you hit me in the sand. Happy April fool friends.