I just casually mentioned to the Thai wife that on most of the many advertising signs that there is little [if any at all] English and if there is, the English print is so small that it's hard to read and her reply was that the rental of the place for the sign is usually paid to the local officials unless it is on private property and that by Thai law, there is a surcharge for English print on the sign.

Sounds to me that they really don't want the Thais to learn any English at all.

I remember reading somewhere that the additional charge is a form of tax and relates to the cost of having the sign translated for propriety.

I would suggest that the tax probably relates to any foreign language, not just English.

"I would suggest that the tax probably relates to any foreign language, not just English."

I doubt it as I see a lot of large Chinese, Korean and Japanese signage in very large print.

English sign tax is double that of Thai signs.

This is easily avoided by having a Thai translation of the sign in the smallest lettering you can get away with on TOP of the sign.

Look around, the signs are everywhere

English sign tax is double that of Thai signs.

This is easily avoided by having a Thai translation of the sign in the smallest lettering you can get away with on TOP of the sign.

Look around, the signs are everywhere

A befriended shop owner recently told me this was so that mailmen, taxi drivers and other who can't read English are able to find the address.

Link from our favorite site:

http://www.thaivisa.com/sign-tax.html

Sign taxes are calculated by the size of the sign, that is length multiplied by width using the basis of square centimeters.

The following are the rates of the sign tax per 500 Square centimeters

· 3 Baht for signs with Thai alphabet only
· 20 Baht for signs with mixture of Thai alphabet and foreign alphabet / pictures / other signage
· 40 Baht for signs without Thai alphabet or
with Thai alphabet, but located under the foreign alphabet

Edited... as posted same info as Jdietz

Edited September 20, 201312 yr by ThaidDown

Link from our favorite site:

http://www.thaivisa.com/sign-tax.html

Sign taxes are calculated by the size of the sign, that is length multiplied by width using the basis of square centimeters.

The following are the rates of the sign tax per 500 Square centimeters

· 3 Baht for signs with Thai alphabet only

· 20 Baht for signs with mixture of Thai alphabet and foreign alphabet / pictures / other signage

· 40 Baht for signs without Thai alphabet or

with Thai alphabet, but located under the foreign alphabet

Thanks for that. I knew I'd read it somewhere and was sure the extra tax related to all foreign languages, not just English.

Link from our favorite site:

http://www.thaivisa.com/sign-tax.html

Sign taxes are calculated by the size of the sign, that is length multiplied by width using the basis of square centimeters.

The following are the rates of the sign tax per 500 Square centimeters

· 3 Baht for signs with Thai alphabet only

· 20 Baht for signs with mixture of Thai alphabet and foreign alphabet / pictures / other signage

· 40 Baht for signs without Thai alphabet or

with Thai alphabet, but located under the foreign alphabet

Thanks for that. I knew I'd read it somewhere and was sure the extra tax related to all foreign languages, not just English.

Yes, good link.

The way to get round the tax on the advertising (at least the way we got round it) was to have the sign sponsored by on of the soft drink companies or breweries. This means you will have their product logo on the sign, but can have the sign as big as you want and displaying what you want within reason. The sponsor handles all the tax issues.