Tax Increase On Alcohol To Hit Foreigners And Benefit Tourist Police

[Botho]

Guys what day we have today?????

APRIL 1 !!!!! Good jokes and nice discussion!!!

[bkkjames]

Testing testing - cant fool the fools on april fools i guess

[Deke]

Happy April 1.

[flyfrog]

"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"

Oh well Thai ecomonics and logic once again, but would raise this question ?........What about the foreigners who do pay tax.... show a WP or tax receipt and dont pay the extra ??....cant see how this would be enforced...

Interested to know about this "shameless behavior"...

most of whom don’t pay tax in Thailand, help pay for the increasing costs caused by their shameless behavior.

What about the farangs like me who pay more then 150.000 baht a year on tax??? Looks like racisme to me, why foreigners only, I think more Thai's fall on their face during Songkhran then farangs, they want us here and they won't!!!

[kevinsan]

Outrageous! Hopefully this is in response to the reduced import duty on Asean Beer. Can't wait for the imported beer to hit the market next month.

[bkkjames]

You are all fools, especially those of you who keep deleting my posts. you know who you are

[Bossbrick]

I think you would have to be a "fool" to believe that posting.

[bkkjames]

You can't FOOL me. It's still March 31 somewhere. Tax or no tax.

[andrewfr]

This story has to be inspired by the date it was filed?????

[JonnyF]

April Fool anyone?

[bkkjames]

"Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Sacha Guitry (1885 - 1957)

"The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly."

- April Fools Day Quotes by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) in 'As You Like It'

"It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

"So, rather than appear foolish afterward, I renounce seeming clever now."

- April Fools Day Quotes by William of Baskerville in 'The Name of the Rose'

"Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Quintilian, De Institutione Oratoria

"Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: It's good to be silly at the right moment."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Horace (65 BC - 8 BC)

"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Colette (1873 - 1954), in New York World-Telegram and Sun, 1961

"Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

"Real friends are those who, when you feel you've made a fool of yourself, don't feel you've done a permanent job."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Author Unknown

" Suppose the world were only one of God's jokes, would you work any the less to make it a good joke instead of a bad one? "

- April Fools Day Quotes by George Bernard Shaw

"Men reach their sexual peak at eighteen. Women reach theirs at thirty-five. Do you get the feeling that God is playing a practical joke?"

- April Fools Day Quotes by Rita Rudner

"The aim of a joke is not to degrade the human being, but to remind him that he is already degraded."

- April Fools Day Quotes by George Orwell

"It is better to weep with wise men than to laugh with fools."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Spanish Proverb

"A sense of humor is the ability to understand a joke-and that the joke is oneself."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Clifton Paul Fadiman

"Don't give cherries to pigs or advice to fools."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Irish Proverb

"It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Max Eastman

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Douglas Adams

"A man always blames the woman who fools him. In the same way he blames the door he walks into in the dark. "

- April Fools Day Quotes by Henry Louis Mencken

"The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Will Rogers

"Even the gods love jokes."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Plato

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Japanese Proverb

"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it."

- April Fools Day Quotes by Jack Handey

[featography]

From the Constitution of The Kingdom of Thailand, Chapter 3, Part 2, Section 30:

Unjust discrimination against a person on the grounds of the difference in origin, race,

language, sex, age, physical or health condition, personal status, economic or social

standing, religious belief, education, or constitutional political views, shall not be

permitted.

Great! How and where do we go to sue or file to recind this racist law?

[andrewfr]

This story has got to have been inspired by the date on which it was filed???

[cheshiremusicman]

Am I mistaken or is it 'APRIL FOOLS DAY'

Just popping out to stock up on CHANG,LEO,SINGHA etc, just in case!

[GungaDin]

Ya got me with this one but not the other.

Well done, better than previous years attempts.

[Welder]

April Fool anyone?

Absolutely.

And a good one aswell obviously.

[Kered]

Perhaps the date has something to do with it!

[PCA]

check your calendars

[uptheos]

Interesting that the news broke on April 1st?

[eggomaniac]

Don't drink.

Don't care!

It is often said never trust a man that doesn't drink as he has something to hide.

ROFL And this is often said by who???

only trust boozers, that's a good one!!!

[arthurwait]

Is this just over Song Kran or supposedly forever ?

The local wholesalers/ off licences probably don't even know about it.

If it is real just stock up or come to Chonburi.

Ok we all know it's just corruption, but wasn't there something like 200 drink related road deaths over last years Song Kran ?

But they are really targeting the wrong people for their reasons anyway,but for more taxes target the farangs/tourists who don't know where to buy from locals and will pay are the right ones.

Half the Thai men that come into the shop here are alcoholics, rich and poor alike. Bus and coach drivers, motor bike taxi drivers come for beers all day long driving around drunk with the coach drivers taking yabba to stay awake while driving after sitting up the previous night till 2am drinking every night attracting the drug dealers here. Alcoholic Thai customers driving around in with their kids in the car or balanced on their mopeds. Yes I know there are plenty of alcholic farangs in Thailand as well especially in Pattaya , but compared to the amount of Thais it's minimal.

The mother in laws builder friend often turns up here beer in hand at 8am in the morning before driving off on his merry way. What does he do all day yes sleep , 2 months to do less than 2 weeks work because he slept all day jumping up pretending to have a bad stomach everytime he was caught. Car wash guy smells of beer all day long what is said " Mai bpen rai." Squid seller rolls up on his bike thing drunk all day, divorced because he is an alcoholic.

Motorbike taxi stand up the road look underneath and it's a pile of beer cans.

If they want it safer and more taxes then do something about the Thai men drinking so much , then maybe they will generate more income tax and make the bloody awful driving standard better. Or how about introducing a driving test that involves more than driving round in a circle and parking and a Mot that involves more than checking the engine and chassis numbers match , like taking cars off the road whose tyres are dangerously brittle and cracked due to the sun.

Edited April 1, 2010 by arthurwait

[DerringDo]

dam_n just in time for SongKran.

Guess it's the missus buying my drinks, so it's not so bad.

Do we have to drink in tea mugs in case the BiB check :D

[paahlman]

!st of April and nobody catched it yet...?

[Queue]

A few years ago a train crash in Phuket killed hundreds of falangs.

Then falangs were told they had to pay extra for a gadget to get on the internet

Now we're being Taxed extra on alchohol. What is this country coming to ?

I'm leaving .........

Wow! hundreds of farangs killed in a Phuket train crash? Must have missed this news item?

It hapenned on April 1st 2007!!

[flyfrog]

Just ask a Thai to buy a bottle for you if we (the foreigners) with 'shameless behavior' are to pay 20 baht more.

Either that or stay away from booze and don't support their reasoning. Besides, if it works once, they'll do it again.

I'm sure plenty of people will still buy and support it and give them justification for their 'righteousness'.

Isn't it a little arrogant to class all foreigners with 'shameless behavior?' Wow, they really like us, don't they.

He guys, remember today it's APRIL FOOLS DAY, maybe something to do with it???

[bkkjames]

I know we all find the situation very Taxing and disturbing. Perhaps we can call up that Stress Hotline that was bandied about here the other day.

[paahlman]

Got to be 1st of April today...

[kuffki]

I guess the fact that we foreigners already pay more for food, clothing, transportation, entrance to parks and shows, housing, rentals and pretty much anything else is not enough.

The fact that the only reason why Pattaya exists IS because of foreigners and their drinking habits-hence so many bars-still does not mean much.

Daily reports in Pattaya show 98% of Thai causing problems, such as drunken fights, motor accidents due to driver being drunk(Thai), hit and run, again driver was drunk(again Thai)

This is just amazing! first they give out free visas and spend millions to attract tourists, now they put up prices, which will push tourists away to cheaper places. Thailand is not a cheap holiday destination and has not been for a while.While one can still buy cheap house, the living costs are getting higher and higher.It does make me wonder with all the increases how to Thai people do it, who are on low paid salary's

[Jonny]

most of whom don’t pay tax in Thailand, help pay for the increasing costs caused by their shameless behavior.

What about the farangs like me who pay more then 150.000 baht a year on tax??? Looks like racisme to me, why foreigners only, I think more Thai's fall on their face during Songkhran then farangs, they want us here and they won't!!!

150,000 baht is $5k USD per year. I don't think they are worried about you as most of us farang spend $5k in a few weeks in Thailand whilst on vacation. BTW, most of the Thai people in my office pay 3-4 times that amount per year based on 20-30% tax I'd think.

What day is it?

[teacherpaul]

1 post calling someone a fool deleted. Please keep it civil.