Tax relief planned for businesses after minimum wage hike

[webfact]

 

The Finance Ministry is poised to introduce measures to support businesses impacted by the recent increase in the minimum wage. The ministry confirmed that the wage hike must be paired with tax measures to lessen the burden on businesses, following precedents set by past wage increases.

 

Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat stated that the goal of the minimum wage increase is to reduce social inequality and strengthen societal foundations, ensuring steady economic progress. However, he acknowledged that implementing a wage hike affects the private sector, necessitating government intervention to mitigate the impact.

 

In 2018, the minimum wage was raised after the 19th Wage Committee Meeting, resulting in an average increase of 15.97 baht across seven levels: 308, 310, 315, 318, 320, 325, and 330 baht. The lowest wage was set at 308 baht per day in the three southernmost border provinces, while the highest wage reached 330 baht per day in Phuket, Chon Buri, and Rayong. In Bangkok and its surrounding areas, the wage was set at 325 baht per day.

Former Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s administration introduced tax measures in 2018 to ease the impact of the minimum wage increase. These measures allowed companies or legal partnerships with total revenue from sales and services not exceeding 100 million baht and employing no more than 200 workers to deduct daily wage expenses paid to employees at 1.15 times the actual daily wage amount.

The Pheu Thai Party, leading the coalition government, announced plans to gradually increase the minimum wage to 600 baht per day by 2027. The initial target is to raise the wage to 400 baht per day by October 1 this year, reported Bangkok Post.

 

In other news, the Finance Ministry appears unlikely to extend the jet fuel excise tax reduction, which was initially introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, stated Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.

Julapun addressed a recent proposal by a group of budget airlines seeking further reductions in the jet fuel excise tax. He remarked that such requests are not of immediate importance.

 

by Ryan Turner

Image courtesy of Solidarity Center

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-07-08

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[MalcolmB]

Higher wages for workers and lower taxes for businesses.

 

That is a win win. 
 

Good government 

[retarius]

57 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Higher wages for workers and lower taxes for businesses.

 

That is a win win. 
 

Good government 

BS....what they lose in taxes they will have to make up for somewhere else, like taxing expats, raising sales tax or BORROWING it. When you have a government like this with a huge deficit you should not be cutting taxes.

[MalcolmB]

34 minutes ago, retarius said:

BS....what they lose in taxes they will have to make up for somewhere else, like taxing expats, raising sales tax or BORROWING it. When you have a government like this with a huge deficit you should not be cutting taxes.

Nah you are wrong.

stimulates the economy with the extra money people spend.

good policy from a good government 

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, MalcolmB said:

Nah you are wrong.

stimulates the economy with the extra money people spend.

good policy from a good government 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

In 2018, the minimum wage was raised after the 19th Wage Committee Meeting, resulting in an average increase of 15.97 baht across seven levels: 308, 310, 315, 318, 320, 325, and 330 baht

Boom times ahead?

[sherwood]

Another brilliant proposal by legislators that are as silly as dung beetles.

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

5 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

Higher wages for workers and lower taxes for businesses.

 

That is a win win. 
 

Good government 

Rubbish.

You may not have noticed, but there is a bit of a recession at the moment and it is likely to be around for a while under this government with their spend, spend mentality.

Lots of businesses struggling to make any money (ie paying taxes).

This could be the nail in their coffin. Ooops - there goes another car assembly plant!

[BangkokReady]

4 hours ago, retarius said:

BS....what they lose in taxes they will have to make up for somewhere else, like taxing expats, raising sales tax or BORROWING it. When you have a government like this with a huge deficit you should not be cutting taxes.

 

Don't reply.  He's a troll.  He just says whatever he thinks will aggravate people.

[BangkokReady]

Need to give that magic money tree a good shake.

 

Do these people think that tourism is still booming or something?

[Mike Lister]

5 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

Higher wages for workers and lower taxes for businesses.

 

That is a win win. 
 

Good government 

Comrade Malcolm I presume!

[loong]

So the article tells us what the wage increase was in 2018, but neglects to inform us what this recent increase was.

[OldmanJ]

Try taxing the people in the high and very high income bracket more,they probably won't even notice a bit higher tax.You can't please everyone all the time.

[MalcolmB]

15 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Rubbish.

You may not have noticed, but there is a bit of a recession at the moment and it is likely to be around for a while under this government with their spend, spend mentality.

Lots of businesses struggling to make any money (ie paying taxes).

This could be the nail in their coffin. Ooops - there goes another car assembly plant!

Only muppets would complain about higher minimum wages and lower business taxes.

If they had cut wages and increased taxes you would be whining. Some people just want to whine.

[MalcolmB]

10 hours ago, OldmanJ said:

Try taxing the people in the high and very high income bracket more,they probably won't even notice a bit higher tax.You can't please everyone all the time.

They pay more than their fair share already. A large % of the lower income earners pay zero tax already

[koolbreez]

This is just a smoke screen. Most minimum wage jobs are filled under foreign worker guest programs that hire workers from the surrounding countries, and who are not required to be paid minimum Thai wages. If I remember right the minimum wage for guest workers is just bt200 a day, and living expenses provided to them can be deducted from their meager wages, taking many of them down below bt100 a day in actual earnings, but still more than they could make in their home country. All these minimum wage increases over the years have done is replace Thais with foreign guest workers, putting more minimum wage earning Thais out of work.