Jump to content

One way to to partial recovery


Recommended Posts

2 hours ago, robertson468 said:

Agreed the poster has given some thought to kick-starting the Thai Economy, unlike Puchaiyank who would appear to dislike a hot climate, which makes one wonder why he came here?  Have lived here now for 15 years and love the heat and have the means to be comfortable with it.....swimming pool, fan or air conditioning all spring to mind.  As for polution, sure if you live in Swamy, Chang Mai or Chang Rai, but living on Samui, the air is clear as a bell and having our own water well, we are never without.  Brilliant place to live, but a pity about the people who are Governing the place, but there again, there are lots of "numpties" running Countries around the World who are a lot worse - Brazil springs to mind.

Really! I bet that Brazil does not have any of this nonsensical  reporting to anyone every 90 days.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/15/2020 at 3:05 PM, Puchaiyank said:

"For one they would live and work in a much more pleasant climate and environment then they have in the West".

 

Arguably a false statement...hot as hades and some of the worst pollution in the world...not to mention water shortages...

Depends. Near the beach the climate is ideal for me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/15/2020 at 9:49 AM, Sir Bogdiver said:

Thailand could attract a large number of these workers by creating an attractive visa regime for them. At present there is no pathway for these workers to stay long term.

Thailand already has such an offer, Thailand Elite Card, available for digital nomads and like that officially live from savings.

 

Thiland is mainly interested in visitors with funds – presume that include the so-called "quality tourist" – and tourists not staying more than a couple of month and with fairly high daily spending. Asian tourists seem to be preferred.

 

Statistically Westerners are on the bottom of the list, they spend the least...

 

images.png.077c6daa809bcc0517b0d7f04521fcff.png

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Thailand already has such an offer, Thailand Elite Card, available for digital nomads and like that officially live from savings.

 

Thiland is mainly interested in visitors with funds – presume that include the so-called "quality tourist" – and tourists not staying more than a couple of month and with fairly high daily spending. Asian tourists seem to be preferred.

 

Statistically Westerners are on the bottom of the list, they spend the least...

 

images.png.077c6daa809bcc0517b0d7f04521fcff.png

This is misleading, because it takes no account of the thousands of Westerners living here with their Thai wives and GF's, contributing to the Thai economy. Bet there aren't too many Chinese or Arabs doing that.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I really have to wonder if you have caught up with the world of air conditioners and purifiers. Electricity is cheap here.

You'd rather live in the UK, and freeze your nuts off? Not to mention the thunder thighs of the women.

It's actually misleading because it doesn't take length of stay into account. Westerners spend less but stay longer, whereas the Chinese visits are much shorter.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I really have to wonder if you have caught up with the world of air conditioners and purifiers. Electricity is cheap here.

You'd rather live in the UK, and freeze your nuts off? Not to mention the thunder thighs of the women.

You had me interested until you brought up the thunder thighs...almost smothered to death during a GYN examination of a sensitive 18 year old...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, phkauf said:

Nice try, but as others point out so well, foreigners are not now, nor have they ever been welcome in Thailand. At best, they are tolerated as long as they don't interfere with a Thai business. While your 50,000 baht "tax" may sound reasonable, the Thais will never bite on that since the Thai Elite Visa (essentially what you propose) is about 100K per annum. 

The "elite" is a minimum of 500K up-front, which people who wish to retain options are not going to pay.  More on this below ... 

 

And "should pay more income-tax" isn't an issue, anyway.  It's a "lose-lose" if the potential-taxpayer just lives in other countries, instead - and doesn't spend their income here, or pay VAT tax, or pay Thai visa-fees, etc.

 

5 hours ago, phkauf said:

Add in the current regime's crackdown on life and the likelihood that continues as long as they want to control things (read: as long as they possibly can), Thailand is much less attractive for those you intend to attract. Highly educated, wealthy professionals do not want to be subjected to the nonsensical rules this government imposes. Heck Vietnam is more stable and easier to navigate. Thailand used to have "freedom" as a selling point, but that is long gone. Criticize the government these days and you could be in a world of sh!t.

Let's not forget the ridiculous taxes on imported goods that most wealthy expats will desire. 

With this current regime, you are likely to attract low level nomads (bloggers, online teachers, etc.) - the higher level folks will go somewhere they feel comfortable. 

Those "highly educated, wealthy professionals," can already come here - or an island in Greece - and being wealthy, 500K or 1M Baht for a 20 year "elite visa" is not a problem. 

 

Thailand's selling point - when all those now boarded-up sois of once-successful businesses were operating - always included BUDGET as a key selling-point.  Thailand had nice people, fantastic food (including 'street' food), and was very affordable. 

 

It was also relatively easy to stay - just do a border run or go get another Tourist Visa.  If not working a Thai job - no problem.  No handouts for those w/o money prevented the "mass-migration of bums for handouts" issue which is the reason for Western travel restrictions. 

 

Then, immigration changed all that, and broke what worked.  They tried to replace it with "tour group" tourism (though they were not mutually-exclusive) which strained infrastructure, and limited gains to a few large companies (largely Chinese owned).  Ordinary working-class Thais lost opportunities, though the "total count" of tourists rose.

 

What is needed, is a system even better than the previous working model - similar to the PI, where one can renew in-country for a fixed-fee.  5K every 3 months would work.  50K/yr is too high relative to the cost of living here.

 

So-called "bloggers" and "online teachers"  - as well as many better-jobs which are do-able online now - all pay multiple times a Thai salary, so each person with that income supports several Thais with their spending.  It's a win-win for everyone - except the CCP's foreign policy.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

This is misleading, because it takes no account of the thousands of Westerners living here with their Thai wives and GF's, contributing to the Thai economy. Bet there aren't too many Chinese or Arabs doing that.

It also averages in a few "high rollers" with the masses.  There is nothing in what is proposed here, which would deter the high-rollers coming in - or even the "tour groups," if it were decided they were still desired.

 

2 hours ago, Jenkins9039 said:

Thailand wants a mixed tourism/expat base but its core objective is to go High Net Worth, with HNW taxes of one person equates to significantly more than the head count of what you are proposing.

Why does facilitating the return of the folks who kept thousands of small businesses in operation, before the 'crackdowns', preclude any other group?  The "HNW" folks would never even eat in the same places as "regular" folks.

OTOH, the "tour group" hordes did do serious damage to Thailand's appeal.  Jammed roads, packed airports, and crowds following flags down streets, through markets, etc were awful.

Edited by JackThompson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

This is misleading, because it takes no account of the thousands of Westerners living here with their Thai wives and GF's, contributing to the Thai economy. Bet there aren't too many Chinese or Arabs doing that.

Those living here are not tourists – which is what the table shows – and those working here on a work permit already pays tax.

 

How much do a person living permanet in Thailand spend per day in average?

 

The average tourist, "all countries", spend rounded down $150 x 30 = 4,500 baht a day. In a year that would be 4,500 baht x 365 = 1,642,500 baht. That's about two times the estimated retirement amount of 800,000 baht a year, or 65,000 baht a month.

 

How many foreigners are living in Thailand?

 

There are no reliable statistics. Excluding migrant workers from neighboring countries "Thailand Migration Report 2019" based on issued visas – which might mean extension of stay – says the number is 200,000; divided as 77.000 due to family (marriage or children); 73,000 retirement, and 50,000 due to investments. Furthermore the Ministry of Work says that there are 113,000 highly skilled foreign workers. The total is then 313,000 foreigners living in Thailand; or there about.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/15/2020 at 2:49 PM, Sir Bogdiver said:

a flat tax rate of say 50,000 Baht per year.  As these workers are usually quite well off

"quite well off" as far as I am concerned would involved incomes of 3 million THB yearly, so a flat tax on this threshold should be 300000 to make sense. Don't forget that Thailand will be, more and more, in the business of keeping the cheap Charlies out. Flat tax should be given as an option, the alternative being filing normal tax returns, under audit scrutiny of course.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the proposition in the op. Another point he / she could have included is that Thailand has fast and reliable broadband, it is far better than Australia and ditto the UK.

 

The sooner a grown up government moves in the better for all concerned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/15/2020 at 3:05 PM, Puchaiyank said:

Arguably a false statement...hot as hades and some of the worst pollution in the world...not to mention water shortages...

"Hades" it is not. For 'some' it gets very hot and the older and fatter you get it seems hotter. Global warming by most is not disputed. It's the rate, cause and long term effect that are the big arguments. It depends upon where you're from in making your temperature comparisons.  If you're from Jakarta, Chennai, Mumbai, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Bogota, Mexico City, etc. to name a few, they might argue with you about the heat. Shoot, yankee, some in Oklahoma, Texas & Louisiana will argue about it.

 

Some of them will argue with you about the pollution, especially Mumbai, Delhi and Jakarta.

 

It was just, Sir Bogdiver's, idea to add a little more flex to immigration.  Pretty doubtful it'll happen, but I wish him well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/15/2020 at 3:05 PM, Puchaiyank said:

"For one they would live and work in a much more pleasant climate and environment then they have in the West".

 

Arguably a false statement...hot as hades and some of the worst pollution in the world...not to mention water shortages...

no, i take it you have no idea what its like to live in sub zero temperature,

its not possible for humans to survive there without extensive shielding

from the very hostile environment

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.









×
×
  • Create New...