Thailand Adjusts Excise Taxes on Local Liquor to Boost Tourism

[webfact]

 

 

On February 23rd, 2024, Mr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the Director General of the Excise Department, publicly announced the adjustment of excise taxes and duties structures on local liquor effective on February 23rd to promote Thailand as a central hub for tourism.

 

The effective date started February 23rd to December 31st, 2024 as a short-term measure to support entertainment service providers affected by COVID-19 in order to recover, promote, and create job opportunities for locals, stated Ekniti.

 

Additionally, the Excise Department would raise the level of tax payments, using digital technology, and advocate Thai laws and regulations to international standards,” Ekniti said.

 

The adjustment on excise taxes and duties structures on local liquor and alcoholic beverages would make the price more appropriate, and international. The price incentive measures would bolster Thailand’s tourism and tourist consumption rates in purchasing Thai food and beverages as a central hub, said Ekniti.

 

However, Mr. Thanakorn Kuptajitti, the adviser to the Thai Alcohol Beverage Business Association, stated that the new tax reduction would only benefit a certain group of people.

 

By Kittisak Phalaharn

 

Full story: THE PATTAYA NEWS 2024-02-26

 

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[flyingtlger]

42 minutes ago, webfact said:

The price incentive measures would bolster Thailand’s tourism

I think that's debatable....

[ChrisY1]

Let's see what Makro do.......my guess is very little...

[rexpotter]

Bought a bottle Chilean Red for 399 baht the other day from there.

[bamnutsak]

Less expensive alcohol must be about #433 on the list of reasons to choose a tourist destination.

 

 

[ChrisY1]

2 hours ago, rexpotter said:

Bought a bottle Chilean Red for 399 baht the other day from there.

Oh yes....plonk is available at that price.....you use it for cooking right?

[dinsdale]

Let's see what happens at the till. For some reason it just goes againt my sensibilties that prices will actually be reduced. Can't really think of any examples where this has happened to any great extent. Airfares maybe but they jump up and down so not a good example.

[dinsdale]

2 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Oh yes....plonk is available at that price.....you use it for cooking right?

Chilean reds are drinkable. More a quaffing wine than anything decent but it's cheap and it's somewhat drinkable. If I have a bottle I'll put it in the fridge. Chilled and even on ice it's ok. I say this as a South Australian home of some of the best wine in the world.

[SpaceKadet]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

 

 

"The adjustment on excise taxes and duties structures on local liquor and alcoholic beverages would make the price more appropriate, and international."

In my understanding that refers to lao khao, Sang Som, Leo, Chang beer, and such.

 

They will never lower the duties on their cash cow, the imported wine.

 

[dinsdale]

7 minutes ago, SpaceKadet said:

In my understanding that refers to lao khao, Sang Som, Leo, Chang beer, and such.

 

They will never lower the duties on their cash cow, the imported wine.

 

I'm not sure about this. I seem to remember import duties and excise were involved. Stand to be corrected though.

[Jumbo1968]

One minute they don’t allow the sale of alcohol to be sold between 2 & 5 because it might cause problems then they reduce the price of alcohol ?

[SpaceKadet]

10 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

I'm not sure about this. I seem to remember import duties and excise were involved. Stand to be corrected though.

Seem to remember similar. The article is not clear if they refer to local prices, or locally made liquor.

[MadMac]

5 hours ago, rexpotter said:

Bought a bottle Chilean Red for 399 baht the other day from there.

Fruit wine. Check the label for the small print.

[hotandsticky]

7 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

I think that's debatable....

 

Won't do any harm.

[MadMac]

3 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

One minute they don’t allow the sale of alcohol to be sold between 2 & 5 because it might cause problems then they reduce the price of alcohol ?

The 14-17 ban is because they wanted to prevent public servants from day drinking. That was sometime last century.

[Hakuna Matata]

ThaiBev's boss will be happy

[bamnutsak]

42 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Let's see what happens at the till.

 

There have been some great articles in the past few weeks with all the details; the tax system is quite convoluted with ad valorem, and ABV charges amoong others.

 

One article I saw mentioned 115 baht less now on a 1,145 "average" bottle of wine, so ~ 10% less. But I think that figure ignores the duty elimination on wine.

 

The duty exemption on wine from ~ 50% to 0% is temporary, just for one year.

[Hakuna Matata]

7 minutes ago, MadMac said:

Fruit wine. Check the label for the small print.

 

I have gout attack from red wine

[hkblademan]

31 minutes ago, SpaceKadet said:

In my understanding that refers to lao khao, Sang Som, Leo, Chang beer, and such.

 

They will never lower the duties on their cash cow, the imported wine.

 

They already reduced it in January to zero I thought….

[degodasilva]

5 minutes ago, MadMac said:

Fruit wine. Check the label for the small print.

 

B400, or possibly B350, seems to be the lowest price you can pickup 'real' wine for (Wolf Blass from Australia being one example). Anything less than that is almost certainly fruit wine.

[Bangkok Barry]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

On February 23rd, 2024, Mr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the Director General of the Excise Department, publicly announced the adjustment of excise taxes and duties structures on local liquor effective on February 23rd to promote Thailand as a central hub for tourism.

 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Additionally, the Excise Department would raise the level of tax payments,

 

I'm confused. Can somebody explain, and also translate the graphic?

[Hakuna Matata]

There is a bilateral agreement between Thailand and the Philippines, no imports tax on alcohol.

 

That is why whiskey and vodka from the Philippines are being sold at a very cheap price in Thailand.

[spidermike007]

This is wrong, this will not have any effect on tourism, a big zero. What might have an effect on tourism would be lowering the import wine tax on fine wines, and growing that part of the industry. Perhaps that would help to attract the wealthier tourists that Thailand keeps droning on and on about. Tourists who have very deep pockets are highly offended when they come here and try to order a bottle of wine that they pay $100 for at home, and it's $500 to $600, or it's just not available. And nobody knows anything about them because the wine industry is so severely oppressed due to the heinous taxation issues.

 

This administration needs to start getting some smarts, and exercising their brains rather than behaving like buffalo, and passing one policy after another which make no difference. 

[1happykamper]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

to support entertainment service providers affected by COVID-19 in order to recover, promote,

Covid 19 didn't cause these problems.. Thailand government shutting down borders and ordering many places closed was the cause! 

[AhFarangJa]

As usual, it is smoke and mirrors. They only put the tax up on local beers and spirits two months ago. Now reduce it for a few months, then probably raise it even higher. The tax man, no matter what country, will never give up grabbing as much as possible. 

[bristolgeoff]

local drink is not taxed that much,imported always carried a bigger tax.Red wine was always higher in tax.Myself i stick to local  products and imported wine is a treat sometimes,that is the way i look at it

[findlay13]

I'm sure all the tourists are going to come to Thailand now that the excise has been cut.They have all been waiting for that.

[dinsdale]

27 minutes ago, hkblademan said:

They already reduced it in January to zero I thought….

That's when they said they were going to do it.

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

the Director General of the Excise Department, publicly announced the adjustment of excise taxes and duties structures on local liquor

Does that mean Thai produced, not imported?

[Guderian]

A few months ago they announced that they'd remove the duty on imported wine, but so far the prices haven't changed a Baht that I've seen.