Tax Increase On Alcohol To Hit Foreigners And Benefit Tourist Police

[jesimps]

News like this makes me wonder why the majority of farang on this site appear to be anti-Thaksin. Things seem to be much worse for farang since Mr A came to power. Maybe the Geordies got up his nose and he's getting his own back.

[bkkjames]

772 users reading this, more than many of the recent political threads!!

lol I love the 1st of April!

The reason for this QS is that although there are 711 people reading a thread about BS, it beats the other 10 topics in newsclippings dedicated to the ongoing protest BS.

Or... we don't really care what colour shirts are protesting as long as the price of beer remains the same.

[Arkady]

"The extra funds are to go partly to increase the number of tourist police officers in Pattaya. According to an unnamed government source it is only deemed fair that the foreigners, most of whom don't pay tax in Thailand, help pay for the increasing costs caused by their shameless behavior"

The assertion that foreigners don't pay in Thailand is a shameless lie. Thailand is very inefficient at collecting personal income tax and VAT is a much larger part of government revenue than personal income tax. Foreigners, even tourists, pay VAT on an equal basis with Thais and many of them consequently pay a lot more tax on a holdiday of a few weeks than the average Thai in a whole year. Despite the red shirts protests about social inequality and double standards, it is a fact that the average farmer doesn't pay any income tax at all, even the minority of them with large hand holdings and good incomes because they are self employed and avoid filing tax returns or understate income as they deal in cash. Income tax is squeezed out of the sandwich class of salary earners in the cities. The wealthy own their own businesses and can take most of their earnings through dividends taxed at a top rate of only 10%, while salarymen pay a top rate of 37%.

I hope this ridiculous idea doesn't go any further. Otherwise it is sure to backfire.

[jesimps]

Well blow me! It's April 1st innit!!! Suckered!!!!!

[Rama]

APRIL FOOL!!!

Press ENTER to look up in Wiktionary or CTRL+ENTER to look up in Wikipedia

[tonywebster]

Increasing the cost of beers for songkhran will not save lives, people will still get drunk, just not as drunk, and it will hurt more as they plough their moped into the back of a pick up truck.

The Thais really are clueless when it comes to making decisions about anything like this. KIf they want to save lives on the road then educate people and employ a police force that works for the people rather than to just line their own pockets.

[moo9]

Scrap Bar fines, alcohol taxes, tobacco taxes and income taxes in Pattaya!

Make it an autonomous zone and everything will be fine!

It would be booming again!

[Gary A]

I just did some Googling and found average beer prices for our neighbors;

Burma - 20 baht

Laos - 30 baht

Cambodia - 40 baht

Thailand average;

Pattaya - 90 baht and higher than that in Bangkok

20 baht for a bottle in a burmese nightclub?

Perhaps at the local equiv of Juntamart.

Maybe not so accurate but interesting;

http://www.pintprice.com/region.php?/Indonesia/GBP.htm

[Mario2008]

Inportant update on the story: http://www.pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/172...tourist-police/

[westcoastnative]

Is this policy going to apply to all residents of Thailand, or just the farangs?

[Boon Mee]

Heh...won't affect me a bit since I purchase my Chan at the local Talat and could care less what time of day it is...

[vidar]

Today is April 1, the fools day, ha, ha, ha

[aidon]

Story unfolding now on CH7... They are trying to find some Farangs to interview but non of the ones in Pattaya have got out of bed yet...

April Fools

[maxisrael]

Whats the date today ????????????????????1-4-10

[hm1973]

I am not a Mod here but

I ORDER YOU TO STOP DISCUSSING THIS STORY!

It was a Joke for April Fools Day .

Thanks to Thai Visa for coming up with the idea and we clearly fooled many of you but there were plenty who realized what we were doing.

Have a good day and don't get caught out again!

Howard

Pattaya One News

[raro]

I am not a Mod here but

I ORDER YOU TO STOP DISCUSSING THIS STORY!

It was a Joke for April Fools Day .

Thanks to Thai Visa for coming up with the idea and we clearly fooled many of you but there were plenty who realized what we were doing.

Have a good day and don't get caught out again!

Howard

Pattaya One News

thanks a lot for your great cooperation Howard! As I heard other boards picked it up as well.

[zirc]

I noticed that the very popular 2Bangkok.com decided not to do their traditional joking post this year.

Did TV not get the memo his site and others received? There's a copy of it on their site.

No April Fools' Day jokes? - April 1, 2010

Like many high profile English-language Thai news sites, 2Bangkok.com also received a letter from the Ministry of Culture (right).

It advises that, owing to the political climate, creating April Fools' Day news items might "cause misunderstanding" and that the ministry would initiate action against Thai websites posting fake news items. Fake items posted in past years are to have a clear disclaimer added.

Interestingly, later in the letter, it mentions that April Fools' Day is not a Thai tradition, but a "foreign holiday."

Due to the possible risks and legal costs related to this MOC notice, we have decided to forgo April Fools' stories this year.

[Mario2008]

With a very special and warm thank you to Howard and Pattaya One News for cooperating in this April Fools joke with us.

[Lancelot]

Reminds me of that old adage: "Put a frog in a kettle of boiling water and he immediately jumps out. Put the frog in a kettle of warm water, then bring it to a boil and you have a cooked frog

In other words, unless the powers to be suddenly cause a bottle of beer to retail for B500 or some other ridiculous amount, most people will continue to drink up, IMHO

(On the other hand, I forgot about the date :D )

Edited April 1, 2010 by Lancelot

[tonywebster]

yes i think the majority know what day it is but allowed the discussion to go off at a tangent and discuss what could happen.

Not as bad as what my gf did to me, I got out of the shower at the gym this morning, went to my locker and there was an sms from my beloved simply stating "I'm pregnant". i automatically assumed she had sent it to the worng person, then got annoyed in case she had sent it to the wrong person, then i remembered two weeks ago giving her the best 30 seconds that she has ever had so pregnancy was feasible. I had it all planned out in my head, names for the baby, build an extension on the house, tell my parents etc, then I looked again at my phone 2o minutes later and the date hit me, despite already knowing the date and warning myself not to get suckered. what a tool I am sometimes.

[sprq]

This is typical of the half measures employed by this government in every sphere. This really will not do. The solution to the problem is to round up all farangs in Pattaya and put them in a theme park, to be called Faranglandia, where they may be observed by Thais for a small fee, say 100 baht, providing copious amusement.

In Faranglandia, Thais will be able to view farangs doing the strange things they do, but without any danger as the farangs will be safely corralled in pens and cages. You will see them reading books, having serious discussions, eating bread, pointing at things, showing lots of flabby flesh, rolling around drunk and all the other strange farang quirks.

On the highway into Pattaya there will be roadblocks where the tourist police will detain all incoming farangs and send them to Faranglandia. All farangs who want to leave Faranglandia and go home will of course be allowed to do so, on payment of a heavy exit tax, say 10,000 baht.

This will solve the farang problem in Pattaya in very short order and will also provide excellent income for the local authorities.

[neverdie]

With a very special and warm thank you to Howard and Pattaya One News for cooperating in this April Fools joke with us.

Never arked me up because I couldnt give a hoot about the pisss......but it certainly got a few of these alco fools worked up .....most of which have probably opened up one to celebrate by now.

[zenobit]

Inportant update on the story: http://www.pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/172...tourist-police/

THANKS FOR SAVING MY DAY... 

...I will celebrate this with an icecold bottle of "Chang"!

[OBLEDUT]

I´m rich I don`t care

[metisdead]

[gharknes]

the scary thing is.......................it was quite believable, i nearly bought my ticket to cambodia

[jonw8uk]

what's the date today???

[dasy]

Anyone remember todays date?

You all been had lol

Sounds pretty "normal" to me on any day of the year good joke though 55

[lounger]

Everybody still half asleep ?

All Fools' Day today.

Its indicative of the anxiety felt by expats that this foolery was taken seriously. I am sufficiently paranoid to believe its not a new April Fool but something already ingrained in Thai society. Of course its not Tesco applying the 'tax' but the hotels bars and restaurants.........

Maybe a thai newspaper could carry an article saying The government is going for a level playing field and the Thais are to be charged the same as the 'Faranges', including:-traffic offences, hotels, bars and restaurants, parks and museums, shops and services(!)

That would be sanook mak mark

[nobber9999]

Correct if I'm wrong:

a 600 cc bottle of beer containing 5% alcohol, will increase THB 6?

5% of 600 cc = 30ml

THB 20 = 100 ml

THB 10 = 50 ml

THB 6 = 30 ml

a 1000 cc bottle of whisky containing 40% alcohol, will increase THB 160?

40% of 1000 cc = 400 ml

THB 40 = 100 ml

THB 160 = 400 ml

I read this as being any alcoholic beverage not exceeding 12% by vol will have an additional tax of 20 thb per 100ml and anything over 12% will carry the 40 thb per 100ml. I think that if they started messing around with proportionate percentages then the sales of calculator batteries would rocket!! At the end of the day, it sounds bloody expensive to me let alone the imposition of a further local tax which would produce a beer +++. Does anyone remember the days when they were young and got pissed before they went out on the town???? It still happens back in the UK so why not here?

The other point here is the mention of curtailing the drunkeness during the Song Khran festivities. This in fact mainly refers to the state of the Thai people celebrating as more and more farang tend to stay clear these days. Can anybody see where it says this tax will only apply to such festivals or is this another across the board way of stinging the tourists and ex-pats? I am sure the locals will continue to drink Lowcay or rice whisky (no tax no doubt) which probably costs the local health service a lot more in the long term compared with a few deaths caused by a drunken Thai driver or Thai passenger falling off the back of a pick-up.

Reading between the lines I get the impression that Vietnam and Laos are nice places to go because they sell cheep booze so why don't we all pack our bags and go there??? Remember, it is only the rich people and back packers that Thailand want to attract and the economy says it all. Oh dear........ how the mighty will fall !!!!