Thailand to offer tax incentives to boost consumption

 

FILE PHOTO: Cars pass a Skytrain (Bangkok Mass Transit System) construction site in Bangkok, Thailand May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand will offer tax incentives to spenders to boost domestic consumption and revive an economy stumbling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, government officials said on Wednesday.

 

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy could contract by a record 7.8% this year, the central bank predicts.

 

The government will give a tax deduction of up to 30,000 baht ($960) on purchases of goods and services from October to December, Danucha Pichayanan, spokesman for the government's special economic task force.

 

The measure, approved by the task force, is expected to cost the government 11 billion baht in lost revenue but should add 120 billion baht in the economy, said Deputy Prime Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow.

 

The tax measure follows cash handouts worth 21 billion baht for low income earners and subsidies of 30 billion baht for consumers.

 

Altogether, there will be about 200 billion baht ($6.4 billion) injected into the economy in the last three months of this year, Supattanapong said.

 

"Right now, every country's policy is the same, that is to rely on domestic consumption and investment," he said.

 

The government also extends earlier measures to boost domestic tourism from October to January, he said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-07

 

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2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand will offer tax incentives to spenders to boost domestic consumption

No problem with tax incentives in a country with very few people pay taxes at all, and with huge megalomaniac building projects in the pipeline. The Chinese friends will grant the necessary loans generously.

 

And later, the government will hand over the country and it's people to China, when they cannot pay the loans back.

 

Mind it is a centuries old tradition of parents and grandparents in Thailand to sell their daughters and granddaughters, to pay back their loans. Why should Uncle Too not do the same with his "children", the people of Thailand, to pay back "his" loans to China?

 

Edited October 7, 20205 yr by Flying Saucage

That doesn't work when people have no money, or any confidence in the government to help the situation.

Most of the tax dollars in these schemes go to the wealthy anyway, making the gulf between rich and poor even greater. 

Edited October 8, 20205 yr by Redline

I take the bus to and from Bangkok and I find it amazing when I  see the Red Line.  This one project must be costing trillions of baht.  Where is the money coming from? That trains are being made in Japan....where's that money coming from?  The tax base here in Thailand is not that big.  Would I be correct in assuming it's being paid for with loans from China? 

The 'tax base' in Thailand is VAT, and taxes on alcohol, tobacco, cars and anything imported. Income tax is an afterthought.

 

Less than 4 million people pay income tax......

Edited October 10, 20205 yr by rickudon
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