Thailand’s revamped tax system promises economic boost

[webfact]

 

In a bid to shield the public from economic turmoil, Thailand’s Finance and Interior Ministries have unleashed a slew of reforms, spearheaded by Paopoom Rojanasakul, secretary to the finance minister.

 

Addressing a high-profile property seminar, Paopoom asserted that the proposed alterations to the land and building tax are geared towards bolstering collection efficiency and ensuring a fair tax rate.

 

“We cannot burden the people further amidst fragile economic conditions.”

Paopoom urged the Bank of Thailand to relax loan-to-value (LTV) regulations, stressing the potential to invigorate the real estate sector and fuel economic growth.

“This isn’t about encouraging debt; it’s about jumpstarting the economy.”

 

Moreover, he called upon financial institutions to loosen credit conditions, striking a balance between risk and stability. The Finance Ministry, he assured, recognises the pivotal role of the real estate market and has devised stimulus packages, encompassing tax and financial policies.

 

Among the measures, tax deductions on personal income for property-related loans and a substantial reduction in land and building tax for developers aim to alleviate financial burdens. The government has also extended tax collection periods and slashed transfer and mortgage fees to revitalise the housing market.

 

Additionally, initiatives like the One Million Homes Project and the Happy Life Credit Project aim to make homeownership more accessible, with flexible loans and competitive interest rates, reported Bangkok Post.

 

In a glimmer of hope for Thailand’s economy, Youthapoom Charusreni, director of the Fiscal Policy Office, indicated a diminished risk of recession. Despite global tensions, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and concerns over China’s economic slowdown, prospects remain positive, he affirmed.

 

In related news, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of Thailand is set to travel to Germany and France in an official capacity. The visit, scheduled for March 7 to March 14, aims to bolster trade and investment between Thailand and these European nations.

Accelerating the completion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and advocating for visa exemptions for Thai passport holders are top priorities.

 

by Mitch Connor

Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-03-07

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[TheAppletons]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Paopoom urged the Bank of Thailand to relax loan-to-value (LTV) regulations, stressing the potential to invigorate the real estate sector and fuel economic growth.

 

 

"Srettha Thavisin, the 60-year-old real estate tycoon endorsed by the Thai king after winning enough parliamentary support to become prime minister, has no experience in government and is not an elected MP."

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/23/srettha-thavisin-the-real-estate-tycoon-turned-thai-prime-minister

[smedly]

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

Paopoom urged the Bank of Thailand to relax loan-to-value (LTV) regulations, stressing the potential to invigorate the real estate sector and fuel economic growth.

“This isn’t about encouraging debt; it’s about jumpstarting the economy.”

 

Moreover, he called upon financial institutions to loosen credit conditions

a dangerous move considering the current state of public debt, it would be unwise to offer loans that people cannot pay, something similar happened in the US and we all know what happened 

[mfd101]

An economy based on tourism, real estate and corruption ...

 

An example to the world of how not to manage anything. 'Productivity' anyone?

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, mfd101 said:

An economy based on tourism, real estate and corruption ...

 

An example to the world of how not to manage anything. 'Productivity' anyone?

If it wasn't for the resorts and the girls working flat-out, Thailand would be broke.

[dinsdale]

[retarius]

Increased taxes do not provide any economic boosts. Corrupt governments simply waste money being important, and extra taxes simply mean extra money for corrupt purposes. 

[mikebell]

How does losing lots of 800,000 baht  bank deposits benefit the economy IF they start double taxing ex-pat pensioners?

[Srikcir]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

“This isn’t about encouraging debt; it’s about jumpstarting the economy.”

In other words, 'This isn't about the government taking responsibility; it's about passing the responsibility to Bank of Thailand.' 

[Bday Prang]

Helping the public by taxing them more, and increasing their debt,  seems to be a common approach worldwide

[soalbundy]

14 hours ago, mfd101 said:

An economy based on tourism, real estate and corruption ...

 

An example to the world of how not to manage anything. 'Productivity' anyone?

I don't think the Western style of economics can be held up as a shining example either though, unsustainable national debt and kicking the can down the road until the currency is debased is leading us to frightening pastures. Thailand won't be spared recession, it's in the same roller coaster going downhill and is reliant on countries who are already in recession, it will come here just a little later.

[mfd101]

11 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

I don't think the Western style of economics can be held up as a shining example either though, unsustainable national debt and kicking the can down the road until the currency is debased is leading us to frightening pastures. Thailand won't be spared recession, it's in the same roller coaster going downhill and is reliant on countries who are already in recession, it will come here just a little later.

I don't disagree, but the problem is that Thailand has too few eggs in too few baskets. So there is very little protection against the gale-force winds of economic change worldwide.

 

For example, it has a good car-assembly industry but that's just doing the dirty work for those who actually design & build vehicles (China, Japan, Korea ... ). So it's at the low end of skills and profits. When will a new and better car be designed and built in Thailand? When will there be an education system that produces the skilled workers necessary for moving up the ladder of productivity? When will a Thai government recognize that the endless chasing after the tourists' quick bucks is a road to cultural loss and ecological ruin?

[soalbundy]

16 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

I don't disagree, but the problem is that Thailand has too few eggs in too few baskets. So there is very little protection against the gale-force winds of economic change worldwide.

 

For example, it has a good car-assembly industry but that's just doing the dirty work for those who actually design & build vehicles (China, Japan, Korea ... ). So it's at the low end of skills and profits. When will a new and better car be designed and built in Thailand? When will there be an education system that produces the skilled workers necessary for moving up the ladder of productivity? When will a Thai government recognize that the endless chasing after the tourists' quick bucks is a road to cultural loss and ecological ruin?

If we just consider the quality of life as human beings then technological progress isn't so important. Tribes in the Amazon jungle have never heard of unsustainable debt, unemployment, hunger, fear of homelessness etc. These days in the so call technological civilized world there is rising poverty, homelessness, unemployment, living from pay cheque to pay cheque and fear. The exponential rise in technological progress is leaving the majority behind, AI, quantum computing etc. are the domain of a few scientists when most don't even know how their cell phone works, the vast majority (including myself) are like apes in a zoo playing with the toys our zoo keepers have given us. Human capabilities such as art, craftsmanship in wood, stone, metal and cloth manufacture, skilled farm work, innovation in design are dead or dying (the pyramids had to be built by aliens, the Mayan stone buildings had to be made by a pre-ice age advanced civilization because we can't envisage human ingenuity anymore). In Denmark there is a museum showing examples of stone age artifacts of such beauty and perfection it is difficult to imagine how they were made. When Oetzi (the frozen mummy found in the alps) was found the sewing on his leather garments was so precise that at first it was thought this was a modern man who had frozen to death many years before.

Considering the modern age we live in I think of the book 'Brave new world', it's becoming a complicated dystopian nightmare where the book 'Animal farm' may soon become a reality.

Incidentally regarding Thai capabilities. I worked for a German auto company who sent car kits to Thailand for them to assemble. One day my company changed the design of the air-con unit, they sent the new designed unit with the old kits, the Thai company reported back that the engines wouldn't start because the engine computer didn't recognize the air-con unit and they asked the German technicians in Germany if there was a way to re program the computer. The German technicians reported back after a weeks consideration that it couldn't be done and they would fly the old air-con units (at great expense) to Thailand. Red faces all round when the Thais reported back "not necessary, we have reprogrammed the computer ourselves, all working fine now"

[mfd101]

22 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

1 hour ago, mfd101 said:

 

If we just consider the quality of life as human beings then technological progress isn't so important.

Yes, which raises a whole lot of other - rather more philosophical - issues. The Thais, however - at least at the 'Middle Class' (such as it is) and elite levels - clearly want to follow The West up the escalator of economics & technology. They just display little or no idea of what's involved, namely a 50-year project of clear-eyed step-by-step progress up the ladder. And no idea where to find the up-to-date project plans: Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Sth Korea, and increasingly even India ...

[FruitPudding]

21 hours ago, smedly said:

a dangerous move considering the current state of public debt, it would be unwise to offer loans that people cannot pay, something similar happened in the US and we all know what happened 

 

Shh...........just let it happen. 

[soalbundy]

2 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

Yes, which raises a whole lot of other - rather more philosophical - issues. The Thais, however - at least at the 'Middle Class' (such as it is) and elite levels - clearly want to follow The West up the escalator of economics & technology. They just display little or no idea of what's involved, namely a 50-year project of clear-eyed step-by-step progress up the ladder. And no idea where to find the up-to-date project plans: Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Sth Korea, and increasingly even India ...

Well, I don't know much about that but I am wary of forming an opinion on any nation's capabilities. When a small local, unregistered, building firm built my house here I was surprised (and delighted in a way) to see them using methods that were common in ancient Rome and worked just as well. Before the British Raj came to India, their medicine, food, and administration methods as well as mathematics (they had invented the concept of zero) outstripped those of Europe and were eradicated for profit. In the European dark ages the Arabs had a working knowledge of the human body, used advanced mathematics and astronomy, had lit streets in large cities and a modern legal system, like the Japanese they found the first Europeans (Vikings) to be primitive and dirty. The scourge of religion and greed has always made mankind take a step backwards. At the present time I find Thailand to be an island of stability, they have the brains where it matters, their central bank for instance. Of course they have corruption (it is almost charming in its openness) and stupid politicians but for real embarrassing stupidity you have to look at the GOP in the USA or the Tory and Labour party in the UK (some reckon that the British people are so disenchanted with politics that 50% won't even vote in the general election).  You mention China, now a basket case, Japan which has had deflation for 20 years and a failing currency, Singapore an unlivable boring place and South Korea which along with Japan has one of the lowest birth rates and the highest suicide numbers, technology isn't the ultimate answer to humanities problems, there is no human warmth in a perfectly humming factory with machines run by computers and robots doing the welding (something I saw in an engine plant, the only people I met were in the office), never saw a robot buy a car. Skill and pride in work well with ones own hands is lost forever, no sense of personal achievement, just button pressers and paper shufflers or "would you like fries with that".

[Skeptic7]

By putting undue burden of taxing expats.

Cha-CHING❗💰

[Mike Lister]

1 hour ago, Skeptic7 said:

By putting undue burden of taxing expats.

Cha-CHING❗💰

Nonesence 

[Skeptic7]

On 3/10/2024 at 9:43 AM, Mike Lister said:

Nonesence 

Is it? I hope you're correct. Time will tell, but I don't have anywhere even close to the level of confidence in anything Thailand which you seem to possess. Always scheming to extract more money from us. And usually it's clear as mud with zero consistency and no real explanation. We don't know what they're doing...and most times don't think they actually do either. 

[Mike Lister]

3 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Is it? I hope you're correct. Time will tell, but I don't have anywhere even close to the level of confidence in anything Thailand which you seem to possess. Always scheming to extract more money from us. And usually it's clear as mud with zero consistency and no real explanation. We don't know what they're doing...and most times don't think they actually do either. 

The Thai Revenue is beginning to adopt international standards and conventions for taxation. The fact that may benefit them is a only a pointer to the fact that they have been so very lax in the past and allowed foreigners to get away with far too much, far too easily.

[JimGant]

On 3/7/2024 at 12:51 PM, smedly said:

it would be unwise to offer loans that people cannot pay, something similar happened in the US and we all know what happened 

 

Please refresh my memory. When was this, and what dire consequences happened?

[Mike Lister]

9 hours ago, JimGant said:

 

Please refresh my memory. When was this, and what dire consequences happened?

He's referring to sub-prime.