Thai Excise Department eyes 111 items of soft drink for tax

[webfact]

Excise department eyes 111 items of soft drink for tax



BANGKOK: -- The Excise Department is ready to collect excise tax on green tea drinks if the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) agrees.

It is also eyeing 111 items of soft drinks for tax.

Director-general of the department Mr Somchai Poolsavadi said collection of excise tax on green tea and coffee drinks is the proposal of the Fiscal Policy Office and also is in the roadmap of the Finance Ministry proposed to the NCPO for approval under its reform plan.

He said if the proposal receives approval, the department is then ready to act immediately.

He said the Excise Department officials have recently asked business operators about the excise tax collection and they all voiced agreement to the collection.

However, most of them did not want to make and price adjustment right now as it might add a burden to the people’s cist of living.

But Mr Somchai said the Excise Department is also monitoring 111 items of drinks which are exempted from excise tax to see whether these drinks will contribute to promoting farmers or not and are not harmful to health.

Excise officials have also been ordered to closely and strictly check new soft drink plants if they meet industrial standards, and are licensed by the Food and Drug Administration or not.

Also they were ordered to check if any chilled soft drinks in fridges are not licensed for sales.

He said selling chilled soft drinks in fridges of shops must have license from the Excise Department though excise tax is exempted.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/excise-department-eyes-111-items-soft-drink-tax/

[thaipbs]2014-08-13[/thaipbs]

[clockman]

I would say all of these are harmful to health!

[chotthee]

I would say all of these are harmful to health!

 

Sugar water should be taxed 1,000% percent.

It is harmful to human.

[Bangmod]

Excise officials have also been ordered to closely and strictly check new soft drink plants if they meet industrial standards, and are licensed by the Food and Drug Administration or not.

 

Shouldn't that be the case before they come on the market???

[WEBLEDINK]

The tax should be levied in a way that is based on the percentage of sweeteners (frucose, sucrose and other types of sugar). The more grams of sugar in the drink the more tax should be levied on those drinks. Leaving more healthy and cheaper choices for the public to choose. Eventually consumers and public lack of demand will slowly eradicate these drinks from stores. 

[ginjag]

 

I would say all of these are harmful to health!

 

Sugar water should be taxed 1,000% percent.

It is harmful to human.

 

 

Beer 2,000%  ??  Thai cakes 2,000%-sugar cane farmers 3,000% for growing the rubbish??  Jams 4,000% 50% sugar (I make it)    Carnation milk ???

strange to pick up on the mega sellers rather than the content from a host of products.

 

We know in excess is harmful  if you do not burn it off,  14% is terrible in a green tee Ha  compare that to some I have mentioned--HEALTH a bit of thought----big money sellers OISHI--mega tax collection.

[ginjag]

Excise officials have also been ordered to closely and strictly check new soft drink plants if they meet industrial standards, and are licensed by the Food and Drug Administration or not.

 

Shouldn't that be the case before they come on the market???

 

The best post in yonks.     If the authorities had health in mind only, then this is the way to go, as you said letting them do it and saying it's harmful, just tell us all it is revenue that is the foremost thought.

[clockman]

You cut Thai people off from sugar! it will never happen

[Time Traveller]

I don't understand this. Sugar is produced in thailand. Coffee and Tea are also grown here. How can the excise department justify adding additional taxes on top of the VAT that consumers already pay? 
Kleptocracy is what Thailand is.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Maybe also some grotesque warning pictures on the bottles about the side effects of too much sugar consumption? Then we got ugly pictures on both the booze and the mix bottles. TAT will love it, it will certainly fill up all the hotels with politically correct tourists (with the correct visa, who carries their passport in the pocket all the time) and they only comes to Thailand for visiting temples and museums. 

[SoFarAndNear]

Yes finally. Makes me sick to see how many beauty and fitness drinks are actually totally unhealthy... maybe next should be those Brands and Scotch super overprized placebo drinks...

[Chao Lao Beach]

I wander if it will just become much worse when they replace sugar with HFCS, should be taxing the fructose level.

 

and WTF is this below? Selling coke is ok, but not cold ? Is this why it is sold warm in restaurants with ice ?

 

Also they were ordered to check if any chilled soft drinks in fridges are not licensed for sales.

He said selling chilled soft drinks in fridges of shops must have license from the Excise Department though excise tax is exempted.

[Thai at Heart]

YOu need an excise department license to have a fridge?

[ginjag]

YOu need an excise department license to have a fridge?

 

I have shopped all over the place--example in a Laos supermarket Coke was 2 baht cheaper stacked warm. fridge price up.  Not many in Thailand but it does occur here and there.  suppose this covers the tax./expenses.

[Thai at Heart]

YOu need an excise department license to have a fridge?

 
I have shopped all over the place--example in a Laos supermarket Coke was 2 baht cheaper stacked warm. fridge price up.  Not many in Thailand but it does occur here and there.  suppose this covers the tax./expenses.

Why does excise need to license the fridge? Damn that must be a lot of paper for a 7-11.

[Prbkk]

Yes finally. Makes me sick to see how many beauty and fitness drinks are actually totally unhealthy... maybe next should be those Brands and Scotch super overprized placebo drinks...

Agree. There is a reason why Red Bull is only permitted to be sold in pharmacies in a number of countries and is currently under investigation about its safety in several others. I hope it is included in the list of those drinks to be subject to higher tax.

[robblok]

Yes finally. Makes me sick to see how many beauty and fitness drinks are actually totally unhealthy... maybe next should be those Brands and Scotch super overprized placebo drinks...

Agree. There is a reason why Red Bull is only permitted to be sold in pharmacies in a number of countries and is currently under investigation about its safety in several others. I hope it is included in the list of those drinks to be subject to higher tax.

Anyone thinking redbull is healthy is crazy its loaded with sugar. It does get the job done, waking you up but its not healthy. I just take a cafeine tab less bad for the body but still not good. But its all about choices.

[klauskunkel]

 

He said if the proposal receives approval, the department is then ready to act immediately.
 

Kudos to the Excise Department, sooo eager, chomping at the bits...while all the other departments are digging their noses, the Excise Department is like a pure thoroughbred, trembling and straining and yearning for the starting shot.

[Chicken George]

M150 springs to mind.. Massive earner there

[navara]

I agree with some tax, the Thai government doesn't collect much tax anyway. I would say 2bt for every small bottle and 3bt for the one liter or more. Also have control on the retail price, because some vendors or movie theaters like to ask 35bt for a drink. I recently had this in the Big C movie theater.

 

 

[Lupatria]

Excise officials have also been ordered to closely and strictly check new soft drink plants if they meet industrial standards, and are licensed by the Food and Drug Administration or not.

 

Shouldn't that be the case before they come on the market???

Shouldn't we get used not to expect logic and common sense here?

[Pib]

I don't understand this. Sugar is produced in thailand. Coffee and Tea are also grown here. How can the excise department justify adding additional taxes on top of the VAT that consumers already pay? 
Kleptocracy is what Thailand is.

I think you are confusing import tax, excise tax, and Value Added Tax (VAT).  Import tax is applied to items coming from outside Thailand, VAT is applied to items at at checkout (import or domestic items), and "excise" tax can be and is applied to many items regardless of whether they are imported or domestically made.   Excise tax is applied before it reaches store for final sale.  The govt can pretty much apply excise to anything and seem to be moving towards "everything" to increase tax revenue.

 

Import, Excise, and VAT is where the Thai govt gets the majority of its tax revenue since only a couple million pay income taxes.  The are corporate taxes also but they also generate a small percentage of total tax revenue.  But the great majority of the Thai tax revenue is based on import, excise and VAT.   Yeap, excise tax can be applied to imported items or domestically made items.

[Pib]

He said the Excise Department officials have recently asked business operators about the excise tax collection and they all voiced agreement to the collection.

 

Yea, right, I'm sure business operators all agreed increasing the price of their products due to a higher excise tax is the way to go.   Such BS the govt puts out.  But hey, the general population accepts the BS, it goes over their head, and/or they think they can't do nothing about it.   Generally Passive folks.

[Pundi6446]

How much, and who controls the monies, also how and where is it going to be used? Here is a good chance for someone to make a good chunk of change, only have it disappear, and swept  under the carpet of governmental bureaucracies.     ?????

[belg]

people put in their mouth what they want

 

so why not a 1000% increase in tax on sigarettes, as it also is unhealthy for other people, apart from the "ignorant farmers" still smoking those cancer sticks anno 2014

 

 

[Gandtee]

 

I would say all of these are harmful to health!

 

Sugar water should be taxed 1,000% percent.

It is harmful to human.

 

I have just finished reading a book Bootleg by Alex Shearer to my grandson, where the theme is the banning of chocolate and anything sweet by the Good For You Party. It would seem that fiction is not far from the truth. Perhaps in the future we will have a Good For You Party where they ban everything that is enjoyable. We already have a Make The People Happy Party so this may not be so ridiculous as we think. Better perhaps to go back to the Second World War situation where food was rationed in the UK. Very few fat people in those days. Am I allowed to say fat? Slim challenged perhaps?

[connda]

When did Micheal Bloomberg become the Prime Minister of Thailand?

[The Deerhunter]

people put in their mouth what they want

 

so why not a 1000% increase in tax on sigarettes, as it also is unhealthy for other people, apart from the "ignorant farmers" still smoking those cancer sticks anno 2014

 

 

2014?    2557, Please...............  

Ignorant farmers?   They eventually worked out the Rice scam but it took a while.   Anyway, cigarettes only cause cancer in other people!!!   Not "me"!!

Edited August 14, 2014 by The Deerhunter

[Time Traveller]

 

I don't understand this. Sugar is produced in thailand. Coffee and Tea are also grown here. How can the excise department justify adding additional taxes on top of the VAT that consumers already pay? 
Kleptocracy is what Thailand is.

I think you are confusing import tax, excise tax, and Value Added Tax (VAT).  Import tax is applied to items coming from outside Thailand, VAT is applied to items at at checkout (import or domestic items), and "excise" tax can be and is applied to many items regardless of whether they are imported or domestically made.   Excise tax is applied before it reaches store for final sale.  The govt can pretty much apply excise to anything and seem to be moving towards "everything" to increase tax revenue.

 

Ok if they want to collect extra revenue do it by VAT. One tax, very simple.

How many layers of tax do they need? The only reason there is excise and VAT is because it allows the government to distort market prices by artifically making things more (or less) expensive in relation to competing products. 

Adding some arbitrary tax to soft drinks is for what purpose? Simply to get people to buy something else. Bottled water? 

[hawker9000]

Thus incentivizing beer & booze?  'Gonna have to pay an excise tax anyway, why limit yourself to soft drinks...    The tax virus has certainly hit Thailand.  All downhill now.  'Best days behind it.

 

Too much television's bad for you isn't it?  I think TVs should have little deposit boxes built into them, so you have to drop a baht or two (or ten) in the slot every 15 or 30 mins to be able to keep watching.  You could call it an excise tax on entertainment.  'And a new employment gig for somebody to come around every month and collect.  Maybe do the same with internet modems & cable boxes!   Woohoo!!