Political conflict delays government’s payment to first car buyers

[webfact]

Political conflict delays government’s payment to first car buyers

BANGKOK, 12 Mar 2014 -- The Excise Department has said that those who have yet to receive rebates under the government’s first car buyer policy will have to wait a bit longer, as the political conflict has adversely affected the administration’s ability to make the payment.

According to Excise Department Director-General Somchai Poonsawat, political gatherings and seizures of various government agencies are the main reasons behind the delay, pointing out that his department’s computer system was badly damaged during the said incidents.

He, however, reassured the public that everyone participating in the scheme would receive the funds eventually.

According to the Excise Department’s latest data, it has so far paid over 63 billion baht to nearly 886,000, out of 1.25 million, first-car buyers; with the payment of nearly 28 billion baht pending.

However, up to 120,000 buyers are expected to withdraw from the program, lowering the amount the department needs in order to pay off first-car buyers to 25 billion baht.


-- NNT 2014-03-12

[EvilDrSomkid]

Odd, we got our tax returns real quick this year. More than last year, too. Strange that.

[winstonc]

i predict its another lame excuse..they can see right to the bottom of said barrel..a few punters on here have been paid though thats good news..my wife was inside the finance ministry.the only damage was the dead petals on the desks..they left a flower on every persons work station ..or maybe someone with hayfever sneezed on the computer thus damaging it beyond repair..yes shes a yellow thug/terrorist /scumbag//

[PepperMe]

Not a single prior report of any damage to computer systems by protestors.

Just another case of blaming inefficiencies on the protests, the eternal 'get out of jail free card'.

What they are really saying is that, just like all the other government populist schemes, money has gone missing in vast quantities and there is in fact no more money till the government can get back to a situation where it can pull the shortfall from somewhere else.... just like a certain other populist scheme we all know about....eh?

Edited March 12, 2014 by PepperMe

[ginjag]

Question to the department--"did you have a back up on your computer-re car buyers" can you get a back up for computers--was his answer. DOH

Lame dog sick pig excuse, ------------------- money put to one side ready for the payments, fairly simple...................If the people here were more tuned in to politics there would be nationwide riots. This is the main reason for the people being not too angry cause they are programed not to question.

[Roadman]

Not a single prior report of any damage to computer systems by protestors.

Just another case of blaming inefficiencies on the protests, the eternal 'get out of jail free card'.

What they are really saying is that, just like all the other government populist schemes, money has gone missing in vast quantities and there is in fact no more money till the government can get back to a situation where it can pull the shortfall from somewhere else.... just like a certain other populist scheme we all know about....eh?

They will be waiting a lot longer now that the ฿2 trillion "cover all our corruption and incompetence with amnesty tucked in" money is gone from the equation to fund their populist party vote at the expense of the country's long term economic well being.

[chrisrazz]

This money has already been collected and should have been set aside with the knowledge that the rebate is pending. Protests my behind! The money has been diverted elsewhere, the only thing the current political crisis has done is to stifle revenue collection and the possibility of redirecting funds from other sources to cover themselves as per the rice scheme debacle.

[GentlemanJim]

Lies, Lies, Lies!

[Nickymaster]

Not a single prior report of any damage to computer systems by protestors.

Just another case of blaming inefficiencies on the protests, the eternal 'get out of jail free card'.

What they are really saying is that, just like all the other government populist schemes, money has gone missing in vast quantities and there is in fact no more money till the government can get back to a situation where it can pull the shortfall from somewhere else.... just like a certain other populist scheme we all know about....eh?

Yep. That's why the 2 trillion loan was sooooo important for PT. This could have filled all gaps created by their populist policies mess. (not even talking about how many people could have been bought with it...)

[thesetat2013]

It sounds like 200000 more people will be protesting this Gov demanding their money.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Patje]

Thai excuses made by officials and politicians .... don't you just love them !!!

[bigbamboo]

Just imagine the mess this government would have been in if they had no Suthep to blame. Even Tacky admits the PM is not up to the job, her aids are incompetent and all the smart guys work for the Democrats. Of course he stopped short of blaming himself.... quite the contrary in fact.

The pressure is on now and don't be surprised if Yaowapa to be booked in for one of those Thai 'extreme makeovers' TAT were talking about the other day.

[dwcrist]

My wife is in this 100k bank deal. I sort of expected delays with all that has been going on and the shortage of cash. I don't care if our payment is delayed, just get the poor farmers their money first. Of course there will be some car buyers that need the money just as much as the farmers, but for the most part, the car buyers have incomes other than the 100k promised to them. I can't imagine being a rice farmer who also took the 100k car deal and didn't get paid yet. That group must be hurting.

[PepperMe]

Also, this 120,000 claims that are being withdrawn from the scheme, thus saving 25 BN baht will in fact mean that from this sceme's budget (already granted last year... so they have that money already) will indeed be sent back to the central fund.

This 120,000 exactly matches the number of people under the scheme that has already defaulted on their payments rendering their claim to the subsidy 'invalid'.

So this scheme should have loads of money left.

If 364,000 (minus 120,000) leaving 244,000 people are still waiting to be paid from a possible remaining budget of about 35BN baht.

Great, so pay them and return the leftover cash to the central fund, they can sure use it.

However, I think we are all experienced enough to know that the real reason payments are now delayed is that there is no more money, and that means 35Bn baht has somehow disappeared from this scheme..... How typical.

What separates this government from history of Thai politics, is that in the past, most money was being extracted from graft and self interest.... This government just quite literally embezzles the money away in massive quantities.

So far the losses from this government are probably hovering way over $30Bn USD or £20Bn GBP ..... That is enough to really hurt the UK economy and cause a riot with almost the entire UK government in prison by now if not worse. The UK's economy is 10 times larger than the Thai economy, imagine the damage it has done to this place??

Yet it is merely laughed off by Yingluck, the PTP and the UDD red terror movement. But what is even more depressing, it is laughed off by so called intelligent farangs.

It really makes me want to PUKE every time I think of it.

Edited March 12, 2014 by PepperMe

[chainarong]

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Question to the department--"did you have a back up on your computer-re car buyers" can you get a back up for computers--was his answer. DOH

Lame dog sick pig excuse, ------------------- money put to one side ready for the payments, fairly simple...................If the people here were more tuned in to politics there would be nationwide riots. This is the main reason for the people being not too angry cause they are programed not to question.

There is no money for this grand scheme either, anything in the budget no.

[smedly]

Not a single prior report of any damage to computer systems by protestors.

Just another case of blaming inefficiencies on the protests, the eternal 'get out of jail free card'.

What they are really saying is that, just like all the other government populist schemes, money has gone missing in vast quantities and there is in fact no more money till the government can get back to a situation where it can pull the shortfall from somewhere else.... just like a certain other populist scheme we all know about....eh?

They will be waiting a lot longer now that the ฿2 trillion "cover all our corruption and incompetence with amnesty tucked in" money is gone from the equation to fund their populist party vote at the expense of the country's long term economic well being.

correct, I predicted this would happen in another post some weeks ago, this government has run out of money, they still owe billions on utility payments also - I wonder which government department will be told first that there will be a delay in wages - police - health - army - civil servants, we shall see

[smedly]

Also, this 120,000 claims that are being withdrawn from the scheme, thus saving 25 BN baht will in fact mean that from this sceme's budget (already granted last year... so they have that money already) will indeed be sent back to the central fund.

This 120,000 exactly matches the number of people under the scheme that has already defaulted on their payments rendering their claim to the subsidy 'invalid'.

So this scheme should have loads of money left.

If 364,000 (minus 120,000) leaving 244,000 people are still waiting to be paid from a possible remaining budget of about 35BN baht.

Great, so pay them and return the leftover cash to the central fund, they can sure use it.

However, I think we are all experienced enough to know that the real reason payments are now delayed is that there is no more money, and that means 35Bn baht has somehow disappeared from this scheme..... How typical.

What separates this government from history of Thai politics, is that in the past, most money was being extracted from graft and self interest.... This government just quite literally embezzles the money away in massive quantities.

So far the losses from this government are probably hovering way over $30Bn USD or £20Bn GBP ..... That is enough to really hurt the UK economy and cause a riot with almost the entire UK government in prison by now if not worse. The UK's economy is 10 times larger than the Thai economy, imagine the damage it has done to this place??

Yet it is merely laughed off by Yingluck, the PTP and the UDD red terror movement. But what is even more depressing, it is laughed off by so called intelligent farangs.

It really makes me want to PUKE every time I think of it.

I agree, I would also add - don't be fooled into thinking it's just falangs that post here

[writeshack]

Nonsense. It's a previously budgeted payment. No excuse. Why hasn't my daughter-in-law received her rebate yet? A year past the promised date. That's why she emptied her savings and has paid all installments at great difficulty, but yet to receive the promised rebate. Doubt she'll ever get it.

[SOTIRIOS]

........what..........a............sick............joke...............

[rickirs]

How about continuing to delay the car refunds and use it to pay the rice farmers now? Their need is more critical that to first time car buyers. Then as rice is sold the car refunds can go out.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Not a single prior report of any damage to computer systems by protestors.

Just another case of blaming inefficiencies on the protests, the eternal 'get out of jail free card'.

What they are really saying is that, just like all the other government populist schemes, money has gone missing in vast quantities and there is in fact no more money till the government can get back to a situation where it can pull the shortfall from somewhere else.... just like a certain other populist scheme we all know about....eh?

They will be waiting a lot longer now that the ฿2 trillion "cover all our corruption and incompetence with amnesty tucked in" money is gone from the equation to fund their populist party vote at the expense of the country's long term economic well being.

Yes, today may turn out to be the day of reckoning. Yet another bombshell payment delay for a populist scheme gone wrong and the one avenue that could have rescued this government declared a no-starter!!!!

I bet that Yingluck is feeling a little bit lonely today - wouldn't mind betting that she looked in the mirror, see a forlorn face peeping back at her and burst into tears of despair!!!! Ahhh diddums, I'm sure that the farmers feel sorry at her predicament!!

[winstonc]

How about continuing to delay the car refunds and use it to pay the rice farmers now? Their need is more critical that to first time car buyers. Then as rice is sold the car refunds can go out.

very fair point..only they had the money already and its done a runner somewhere..

[gabruce]

Wasn't there a report last year, well before any protests, that they had run out of money to pay the rebates?

[monkeycountry]

I assume the boss at the excise department will be fired for failing to make a complete and continuous backup of their database, which is pretty much the most basic thing to do, when running a large IT-system.

If indeed he does have a backup, then it should not take more than a few days to restore the system, no matter how badly damaged it was.

[monkeycountry]

How about continuing to delay the car refunds and use it to pay the rice farmers now? Their need is more critical that to first time car buyers. Then as rice is sold the car refunds can go out.

I think you will find that many of the waiti g farmers are indeed the first car buyers :-)

[Lupatria]

It's christmas in march for the repo-man!

[gemini81]

That's ironic. They found the old lady's history of taxable imports for 2013, balance, and duties owed, all in the computer database just last week at the head office in Dusit.. funny how that works out. The DG's own admitted incompetence. The DG's don' t get fired, they just are moved by politicians to another office in which they have no prior experience nor competence. Oh well, at least there is never a boring day in such a spontaneous and unpredictable city! They say its always a love/hate relationship with things in life..

Edited March 12, 2014 by gemini81

[phantomfiddler]

Personally I don,t see what the car buyers are complaining about, after all, it was them who voted this party in, assisted by other misguided parties. The important thing here is not the problem, it,s how you adjust your behaviour to avoid it happening again

[SICHONSTEVE]

How about continuing to delay the car refunds and use it to pay the rice farmers now? Their need is more critical that to first time car buyers. Then as rice is sold the car refunds can go out.

I think you will find that many of the waiti g farmers are indeed the first car buyers :-)

A double whammy for them then if that is indeed the case. The promises of prosperity failed to live up to the promise obviously.

[Suriya4]

Don't know about you, but I got the money already.

The Full 100,000 Baht.

Thanks Yingkuck government.