Thai government cuts local alcohol tax to zero to boost tourism and economy

[JoePai]

19 minutes ago, stoner said:

here we go another poster attacking thailand :)

Well it is - next?

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, DudleySquat said:

For those who did not read the article, they also want to close duty-free shops in all airports.  Great idea. Not.

More people to join the unemployed all down the line, from delivery drivers up, less rental income for the airports, and what about all the other duty free products, great idea init. They never think things through do they.

[bkk6060]

Meaningless mostly.  If they want to make a greater impact open up the hours to buy it.

[2baht]

30 minutes ago, quake said:

Nice to see the rich falangs looking down there noses at the poor people of Thailand

shame on you lot. 

 

 

You go out and hug as many as you can, I'm sure they'll feel much better! 

[daveAustin]

This will likely have F all affect to the ‘price at the pump’. Vietnam has their booze prices right, Thailand will always be a ripoff in this department.  

[morrobay]

1 hour ago, morrobay said:

Wouldn't drink this domestic aldehyde ,I mean  wine, if it was free 

If the fermentation process is improper/incomplete the acetyl aldehyde is not reduced ,(addition of hydrogen )to ethenol. Then aldehyde will be in excess in the wine

[brianthainess]

  The smile, and those buttons  Sorry I can only think of Clowns when I look at this Photo,

 

[proton]

56 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

Cutting tax on HongThong, LaoKoh, Sangsong(?) will be a treat for Thais...and a real boost for the road toll.....Foreigners don't touch this crap...except dedicated faring pi** heads!

 

Sangsom rum is actually not bad, but that went up in Dec

[quake]

6 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

  The smile, and those buttons  Sorry I can only think of Clowns when I look at this Photo,

 

 

Makes me think of shoes.

 

 

[Puccini]

53 minutes ago, steve187 said:

inbound duty free shops, i don't understand why they have them anyway, maybe to keep king power and its owners happy

 

I believe that the idea of tax-free shopping at the destination airport started somewhere in Europe with the intention to reduce carbon dioxide emission by aircrafts that were carrying tons of passengers' of duty free goods from one country to another.

[Peterphuket]

4 minutes ago, quake said:

 

Makes me think of shoes.

 

 

It has not escaped my notice that they have a similar minister in the Netherlands, these are the shoes 'he' wears.

[Danderman123]

Is this an announcement of a reduction in taxes, or an announcement that they will consider reducing taxes?

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, loong said:

Why do they mess up simple calculations so often in these news items? The conversion to $ should be in billions, not millions.

Indeed a complete mess. The "," in the Thai Baht numbers is of course NOT a decimal separator.

[KhunBENQ]

The whole action is just stunning. On one side leading a crusade against alcohol with silly sales restrictions etc.

Now abolish alcohol taxes.

Which other country has lowered alcohol tax? (serious question)

And to no surprise applies to LOCALLY produced alcohol only. As if much wanted high spending tourists are attracted by saving a few Baht on LEO 😖

[bokningar]

And how much is this tax cut on 1 big bottle of beer?

So we can all see if the price will be cut with that amount.

[kinyara]

Slowly but surely the small group of Thai billionaires that operate protected monopolies in the key consumer sections of the economy are getting their favourable concessions from this new government. I have no doubt a significant proportion of the 10,000 baht handout if it proceeds will end up being spent in the food, convenience store and communications sectors that are controlled by a select few individuals. They are the real winners here in my opinion not the general public, it is after all them that will pay for these changes in the long run.

[brianthainess]

That should please the Vodka drinkers with PTS, on 3 month visas, what could go wrong.

[isaanistical]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

It would be much better to lower the tax on imported wine and beverages, as the local stuff is undrinkable

It was reported elsewhere yesterday that import tariffs on wine (nearly 60 percent) will also be suspended for one year. That would make a difference. Great for us expats and a lot of Thais who like wine.

 

But wine connoisseurs choosing Thailand rather than, say, France or New Zealand? Makes as much sense as a "central hub"......

Edited January 3 by isaanistical
amended to clarify Thais who drink wine, not people who drink Thai wine!

[retarius]

1 hour ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

555... Booze is the same price in the duty free shops... you missed the reports of Thai duty free shops being a ripoff

I am not a fan of duty free shops, I think they are a rip off, and designed for simpletons. My wife disagrees with me and goes shopping in the airport.

Anyway, I haven't bought booze in a duty free for decades. Not since I noticed in almost all countries I visited, the High Street prices were often quite a bit cheaper. It seems to me that, at best, you can save a few pennies in the duty free stores but then you have the inconvenience of carrying the damned stuff.

 

I do sometimes buy cosmetics for the wife when I travel alone, but only because high end cosmetics are difficult to get here in Thailand, and because it is a gift, I'm not concerned about price.

 

My last wander around a Swampy duty free booze section revealed that they don't stock much, if any, ordinary branded spirits. If you want a bottle of Johnny Walker whiskey (I don't drink the vile stuff) but there was no ordinary whiskey on the shelves but there were big displays of Johnny Walker Green Label, Blue label, Pink Label, Purple Label (Ok I'm exaggerating a little)  and so forth all at outrageous prices. It seems this a change in strategy for the duty frees, ie to stock brands you cannot get outside the airport and cannot do a price comparison on. 

[retarius]

17 minutes ago, isaanistical said:

It was reported elsewhere yesterday that import tariffs on wine (nearly 60 percent) will also be suspended for one year. That would make a difference. Great for us expats and a lot of Thais who like wine.

 

But wine connoisseurs choosing Thailand rather than, say, France or New Zealand? Makes as much sense as a "central hub"......

It will only make a difference if retailers reduce e their prices. If I were a retailer and had this one year opportunity to make additional profits, I would keep prices the same (or reduce by 5% or so) and pocket the extra profit. Does anyone think that bars in Pattaya or Bangkok charging 120 baht for a small Leo that costs about 35 or 40 baht in 7/11 will reduce their prices becuase Leo has gone down to 30 or 35 baht in 7/11. Personally after the hard years of COVID, iI'd want to pocket the extra profit, especially as the opportunity is only for one year. 

[isaanistical]

10 minutes ago, retarius said:

It will only make a difference if retailers reduce e their prices. If I were a retailer and had this one year opportunity to make additional profits, I would keep prices the same (or reduce by 5% or so) and pocket the extra profit. Does anyone think that bars in Pattaya or Bangkok charging 120 baht for a small Leo that costs about 35 or 40 baht in 7/11 will reduce their prices becuase Leo has gone down to 30 or 35 baht in 7/11. Personally after the hard years of COVID, iI'd want to pocket the extra profit, especially as the opportunity is only for one year. 

where I drink, a large bottle is 80-100 baht, and I don't care much about reducing that.

But buying wine is a different matter. As I have always understood it, the annoying pink sticker over the cork says "duty paid". So would retailers get a return of that paid duty for all their stock?  Or will they be stuck with unsaleable goods as new stock arrives? Any booze retailers out there?

[ikke1959]

2 hours ago, stoner said:

here we go another poster attacking thailand :)

Not attacking Thailand.... but the wines here are very very expensive and hardly drinkable.. Never went abroad?? When I go to Europe I can have a bottle of good /very good wine for 15 euro (600 THB) in a restaurant, as for this price in Thailand you have chateau Migraine,   because of the 300% tax...I am convinced that if the imported wine was less taxes the revenue would be bigger as more people would like to buy and drink it...Nothing to do with attacking Thailand..but Thais unfortunately think that Thailand is the best country in the world, but many have no clue what is outside

[Ctkong]

I am a wine drinker and had been to neighboring countries like vietnam Cambodia and myanmar . All those countries have cheaper booze especially beer and wine. Even a Muslim country like malaysia has cheaper prices too. I guess any Thai who wander overseas do see the difference and the ridiculous prices charged in their home country. 

[Galong]

If the government REALLY wanted to support the alcohol industry, do away with the monopolies by the big beer companies.  Thailand has some wonderful CRAFT BEERS that are taxed heavily. Level the playing field! 

Additionally, the same government that wants to cut back on recreational use of marijuana wants to promote a more dangerous drug, alcohol... makes perfect sense. 🤨 

BTW, whether a partaker or not, it sure seems like the fairly recent liberalization of pot has been very popular to a lot of people. I also don't see any uptick in crimes or pot-related problems.  
 

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, isaanistical said:

It was reported elsewhere yesterday that import tariffs on wine (nearly 60 percent) will also be suspended for one year. That would make a difference. Great for us expats and a lot of Thais who like wine.

That would be great.

I only know from tales of the past when you could have a bottle of champagne or wine for an acceptable price.

in the 80s?

[actonion]

Cutting Alcohol Tax     and   Taxing Foreigners bring money into Thailand...to make up for it, while people like  my Thai Mrs  who  works, and  has never paid Income Tax ..

[sirineou]

It should work. I am sure most tourists to Thailand . before they decide to come here, they check on the amount of tax on booze. 

I am certainly going to buy more now that there is no tax.

PS: the goverment official in the picture sure looks like he had a few.!!

Edited January 3 by sirineou

[Galong]

6 minutes ago, actonion said:

Cutting Alcohol Tax     and   Taxing Foreigners bring money into Thailand...to make up for it, while people like  my Thai Mrs  who  works, and  has never paid Income Tax ..

Yeah, you're right. I know a lot of Thais who work and don't even consider paying taxes or Social Security. I have worked here for over 30 years and gladly pay my taxes and have absolutely zero problems with paying into Soc Sec... Thai SS gives me wonderful healthcare, for which I am deeply grateful.  I wonder what Thais who don't pay into the system plan to do when they get old. [rhetorical question]

[BenStark]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

7 hours ago, webfact said:

including reducing domestic alcohol tax to 0%, formed part of their strategy to stimulate the tourism and economy of the country.

So lets wait and see if prices to the end customer drop by that amount?

 

You mean if they drop by 0% as stated in the post you quoted?

 

I'm pretty sure that will be the end result

[dinsdale]

3 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

It would be much better to lower the tax on imported wine and beverages, as the local stuff is undrinkable

 

7 hours ago, webfact said:

restructuring of excise and various national taxes, including reducing domestic alcohol tax to 0%,

Aren't excise taxes related only to imports?