Saw this article on the top banner of yahoo finance section, I guess LOS is not the worst.

shadow economy

scroll to the bottom half to view thailand

Edited July 31, 201015 yr by tangcoral

Was you expecting Thailand to be the worst?

Yes Thailand has a large shadow economy, many small business's and shops are unregistered cash business's. Farm labour is often cash labour, where no tax is paid.

What I found interesting was the labour distribution in the country. Only 19.7 % work in industry, 42.4 in agriculture and an amazing 37.9 in services. So in a country competing in the industrial world and showing strong growth in exports from industry less than 1 in 5 thais benefit from it. Now with tourism falling 37.95 or just about 2 out of 5 thais incomes may be dropping.And we all know the agriculture based economy of 42.4% is low paid work. Seems without the shadow economy for many thais life would be dire.

Yeah, it's a real pain to keep my export revenues from trickling down to the other 4 in 5.

Was you expecting Thailand to be the worst?

Yes Thailand has a large shadow economy, many small business's and shops are unregistered cash business's. Farm labour is often cash labour, where no tax is paid.

There isn't such barbaric items such as an income tax here for the 90 percentile.

Thais say they now want a welfare state. Not possible if so much of the economy is underground.

lol at saying that only 1 in 5 are benefiting from increased exports. are you under the impression that employees are being paid in company stock? unless by benefiting you meant "they haven't yet been laid off from their 20 baht/hr job".

Thais say they now want a welfare state. Not possible if so much of the economy is underground.

Nothing will benefit the rural Thais more than being able to stand in a line to receive free food and unemployment payment. "So I get paid for not having a job? Thank You Buddha! Finally you answer my prayer"**

**speed dials his bookie

Edited August 1, 201015 yr by Chunky1

The thing about having a welfare state is that you have to pay tax , Paying tax means every body , we have just seen a person cause some big problems with not paying tax, no name mentioned, Then the next thing is , how do you collect the tax , which is the biggest problem, The UK had this years ago the same as every other country , How you collect your taxes is the big trick.

Collecting taxes would seem to be a daunting but quite doable task, many countries could supply experience/knowledge on how it can be done. Thailand has even demonstrated that they understand a tax system, the instigators just seem hesitant for themselves/associates/family/friends etc, to be subject to this inconvenience. It Seems that the disbursement of those tax monies go thru quite a commission type process here in the LOS. If the light fingered ones had access to additional funds, they would have to bring more cronies/family to the trough. The allotted space and shares seem to be under considerable debate by the present participants of the feeding frenzy without throwing more money into the system.

Check money in the bank and major purchases vs income reported and then imprison and levy heavy penalties against violators. You scare many into obeying your rules out of fear. It is the same extortion tactic used by organized criminals.

lol at saying that only 1 in 5 are benefiting from increased exports. are you under the impression that employees are being paid in company stock? unless by benefiting you meant "they haven't yet been laid off from their 20 baht/hr job".

Yes that is more or less the idea I just didnot say it as well as you. I was saying it as they are wage earners simple as that nothing more.

The thing that amazes me is that there seems to be lots of money for roads and infrastructure. Where does that come from?? LOS has better roads than some states in the US......with fewer cars on the road, at least in the country.