Thailand: Non-alcoholic beverages to be taxed

[IAMHERE]

• >He said the current 10% tax on such beverages might be increased to 30-50%. For example tax on green tea beverage which is exempted from tax might face a 10% tax which will generate additional two billion baht more to 5-6 billion baht a year< Quote

How does a extempted product create 3-4 billion in taxrevenue??

VAT

[trainman34014]

If they want to learn about ''Stealth Taxes '', they should contact Gordon Brown as he was the World expert at bringing them in almost without a word of protest being heard. Making rather more low key statements and then slipping a hike in several months later works much better.

But wait....This is Thailand where they know best about everything and nobody outside knows anything !

[Commerce]

I'm sure the Japanese company Oishi is going to be well pleased... despite its being produced in Thailand.

I'd like to see 100% tax on Red Bull.... exported world wide......... for a certain unknown reason.

Since you chose to mention Red Bull, Where is the Red Bull HeirTwerp that killed the Policeman ??

He was my certain unknown reason...

[Si Thea01]

Ok. Will drink only beer and wine.

A good idea, as sugary drinks have created an obese nation in the west and Thailand looks like they will follow suit. I do hope they make them more expensive than wine or beer.

Wow, so beer and wine do not have a sugar content? Sugary drinks have caused obesity? Not junk food with its sugar and fat content?

[bernd1616]

far better would be to increase the tax far higher for the fastfood chains and big companies making net profits far over the clouds while paying the staff of them a very miserable slave like "salary" from only 9000 baht a month with a working time from about 60 hours a week.

[Pattaya46]

Not a bad idea to be fair ,

The consumption of sugary drinks is s big factor in childhood obesity

Excuse me, but where did they talk about "sugar"?... Nowhere!

The article is about "non-alcoholic beverages"

and so it includes all sugar-free beverages too, like Coke Zero, Coke Light, Pepsi Max,...

Taxing sugar-free beverages will not decrease consumption of sugary drinks

[kotsak]

Next they can tax walking, then breathing, then who knows what else.

Yes,yes, I know these products are already taxed BUT a 50% increase is ridiculous. It doesn't matter that the products have a low selling price, they are still consumer products and as such should fall under some sort of regulation.

Thanks God they don't use their brains much over here otherwise they might have been taxing "thinking" as well

[theguyfromanotherforum]

I think they should tax beer 50% just because I don't drink it.

[jpinx]

There's little, if any, correlation between taxes and intent to improve health. If that was the case Tobacco would be taxed at 500%. Having said that .. humanity needs its vices and tobacco, alcohol, sugar are some of the well-known ones. the government has to balance the cost of health-care as a result of accessibility to a vice with the taxes the sales of that vice will raise. This puts the government in the invidious position of actually making money out of the vices, instead of just banning them -- but then the revenue would drop to zero but the health care requirements would continue for years.

[mercman24]

wise up, i haven't seen many fat people in this country, (two a penny in the west) just ban macdonalds, that should do it. and most of what they eat is coloured spicy water, with a few veggies/meat thrown on top.so as a previous poster said it is to make up for the shortfall of the rice "scam" because that is what it was, with rice going missing etc.

[Gonsalviz]

Well, this puts to bed the lie 'we tax alcohol for people's health' bs to bed once and for all, does it not.

Don't know really, a lot of the drinks they are thinking about taxing are unhealthy as well.

Though apart from water and milk everything is, if you ask some nutritionists.

Don't worry, some genius will ceclare those unhealthy as well if they haven't already.

[MaiChai]

The irony: several years back they really hiked alcohol tax. The impact of that was that people stopped drinking alcohol, and thus the revenue generated was reduced. Folks could not afford alcohol so they simply stopped buying it. Now they can't generate sufficient revenue so they want to target soft drinks. If they do that folks will stop buying them. What next, water? Seems ill thought out and little consideration for the commercial impact on companies supplying products?

[maidee]

lets go european style

where an orange juice costs much more than a beer

[ExPratt]

<script>if(typeof window.__wsujs==='undefined'){window.__wsujs=10453;window.__wsujsn='OffersWizard';window.__wsujss='4A56245FF3AA1DF0AB17D4C55179F65F';} </script>

Not a bad idea to be fair , The consumption of sugary drinks is s big factor in childhood obesity

Indeed and the logical thing to do to cure that problem at the same time would be to levy tax on drinks and items depending on the sugar content... with 0 tax on water going up to 50% for products with the highest sugar content.

Instead this sends no message at all other than all drinks will go up a high %

Perhaps a sugar and carb tax is in order. The true causes of obesity , not fat and protein as they'd have everyone believe

[ExPratt]

Excuse me, but where did they talk about "sugar"?... Nowhere!

The article is about "non-alcoholic beverages"

and so it includes all sugar-free beverages too, like Coke Zero, Coke Light, Pepsi Max,...

Taxing sugar-free beverages will not decrease consumption of sugary drinks

Don't believe the hype buddy most "Sugar Free" and low sugar drinks contain Fructose

"Fructose is a sugar found naturally in many fruits and vegetables, and added to various beverages such as soda and fruit-flavored drinks. However, it is very different from other sugars because it has a different metabolic pathway and is not the preferred energy source for muscles or the brain. Fructose is only metabolized in the liver and relies on fructokinase to initiate metabolism. It is also more lipogenic, or fat-producing, than glucose. Unlike glucose, too, it does not cause insulin to be released or stimulate production of leptin, a key hormone for regulating energy intake and expenditure. These factors raise concerns about chronically high intakes of dietary fructose, because it appears to behave more like fat in the body than like other carbohydrates."

[jpinx]

The problem is added cane suger - sucrose -- not fructose or glucose

Most "beverages" are mostly chemicals anyway. It's hard to tell what's what in an area where the marketeers exploit every tiny mousehole in the FDA and other regulations. I believe nothing on the label anymore. Better to go to a smoothie bar that makes it from from fresh fruit and make sure they don't put anything else in it.

[ataloss]

Non-alcoholic drinks will not only be taxed; but in keeping with the other astute law, be forbidden for sale between 1400 and 1700 hours. The mind boggles.

[Pattaya46]

Don't believe the hype buddy most "Sugar Free" and low sugar drinks contain Fructose

They are not "sugar free" if they content fructose! Fructose is a sugar.

Coke Zero by example does not content sugar (or so few) and less than 1 calorie (kcal) per can

Pepsi Max is not much different. You will not become fat because of them

[ExPratt]

Pattaya46

They are not "sugar free" if they content fructose! Fructose is a sugar.

Coke Zero by example does not content sugar (or so few) and less than 1 calorie (kcal) per can
Pepsi Max is not much different. You will not become fat because of them

Obviously its not good to load up on calories but sweeteners have a high GI (GLycemic Index ) the same as Sugar , In other words they cause your blood sugar levels to rise (Too long winded for here but Google glycemic index if you are interested)

Basically the world has been fed Carbs and Sugar diets for the last 40 years , mainly because protein diet is unsustainable for a population of 6 billion or so.

Go into convenience shop 7/11 , Family Mart and see what "Snacks" they have in there are not either loaded with cheap starchy carbs or sugar , there is pretty much nothing

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• Quote

Edited November 15, 2014 by ExPratt

[Pattaya46]

Go into convenience shop 7/11 , Family Mart and see what "Snacks" they have in there are not either loaded with cheap starchy carbs or sugar , there is pretty much nothing

The problem IMHO is not what these "Snasks" are made of (sugar, carbs,...) but "Snacks" themselves.

Why would someone have to buy such things ?

Learn back people to not eat between main meals and people will become far healthier

Edited November 15, 2014 by Pattaya46

[jpinx]

Eating habits need to change, no snacks between meals, no fried food. Eat a big breakfast with grilled oily fish, poached eggs, and lots of veg/salad. Kill your hunger early in the day. Drink 2 litres of plain water every day. No big dinner in the evening -- just a veg/salad dish (no sauces) -- nothing starchy in the 6 hours before bedtime.

It's easy to know what to do -- the hard part is doing it

[ExPratt]

<script>if(typeof window.__wsujs==='undefined'){window.__wsujs=10453;window.__wsujsn='OffersWizard';window.__wsujss='4A56245FF3AA1DF0AB17D4C55179F65F';} </script>

Eating habits need to change, no snacks between meals, no fried food. Eat a big breakfast with grilled oily fish, poached eggs, and lots of veg/salad. Kill your hunger early in the day. Drink 2 litres of plain water every day. No big dinner in the evening -- just a veg/salad dish (no sauces) -- nothing starchy in the 6 hours before bedtime.

It's easy to know what to do -- the hard part is doing it

Agreed easy to tell others what they should be doing, I know what to buy eat and drink , just life gets in the way sometimes

[RTH10260]

If the excise department wants to raise more money for the state why don't they just tax the air that we breathe.

There is no point to these extra layers of taxes but it's just blantant theft from people. They already have a VAT tax.

The finer point to the scheme is that VAT is calculated upon the already taxed product. So VAT collects a windfall extra.

[MaxLee]

Jesus they must be skint to do this.

Certainly doesn't assist those at the bottom of the societal pile who find their finances squeezed once again. Cost of living keeps on rising

Well,.... Something MUST temporarily REPLACE the lost tourism revenue, aight?????

Edited November 15, 2014 by MaxLee

[RTH10260]

Ok. Will drink only beer and wine.

A good idea, as sugary drinks have created an obese nation in the west and Thailand looks like they will follow suit. I do hope they make them more expensive than wine or beer.

"created an obese nation in the west"

Just the one?

Definitely nanny state mentality if you think lack of personal control over what you eat & drink is to blame on the availability of things that are unhealthy to consume and should be controlled by "the authorities" through laws and taxes.

Just say "No."

Hmmm - the socialist nanny state tries to enforce a thinhgy known as minimal salary for, among other reasons, you can just say No! to the junk food. But who goes for the crispy fresh salad and vegetable when junk food is artificially produced to cost so much less? And what do those do healthwise that cannot evenn dream of a minimum wage.

[TheWizardofRnR]

So if I can only buy Sugar-free sodas , will I get omitted from it being Taxed, since many here want the fattening drinks taxed , but let the Sugar - free sodas slide , I hope !

[tominbkk]

How will this tax benefit society? Its not like the money will be used to fund education or health as opposed to...oh, I don't know.... further lining the pockets of politicians.

Exactly. I really have nothing against higher taxes except for the fact that things just keep getting worse here despite them.

[ExPratt]

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So if I can only buy Sugar-free sodas , will I get omitted from it being Taxed, since many here want the fattening drinks taxed , but let the Sugar - free sodas slide , I hope !

Read a few threads above tubby , sugar free is a bit of a scam to trick the obese into thinking they being healthy ;0)

[englishoak]

<script>if(typeof window.__wsujs==='undefined'){window.__wsujs=10453;window.__wsujsn='OffersWizard';window.__wsujss='4A56245FF3AA1DF0AB17D4C55179F65F';} </script>

Not a bad idea to be fair , The consumption of sugary drinks is s big factor in childhood obesity

Indeed and the logical thing to do to cure that problem at the same time would be to levy tax on drinks and items depending on the sugar content... with 0 tax on water going up to 50% for products with the highest sugar content.

Instead this sends no message at all other than all drinks will go up a high %

Perhaps a sugar and carb tax is in order. The true causes of obesity , not fat and protein as they'd have everyone believe

I dont see a problem with carbs other than in a way its a false economy healthwise on the body if all you do is eat mama or rice every meal but thats education as much as anything, not to overload your diet with carbs sugar and salts would be sensible and I wouldnt recommend a diet of high fat and protein but rather a better balance away from the high carb sugar and salt diet so many live on.

The other problem is of course cost, protein is expensive n comparison to cheap carbs.

[englishoak]

<script>if(typeof window.__wsujs==='undefined'){window.__wsujs=10453;window.__wsujsn='OffersWizard';window.__wsujss='4A56245FF3AA1DF0AB17D4C55179F65F';} </script>

So if I can only buy Sugar-free sodas , will I get omitted from it being Taxed, since many here want the fattening drinks taxed , but let the Sugar - free sodas slide , I hope !

Read a few threads above tubby , sugar free is a bit of a scam to trick the obese into thinking they being healthy ;0)

Agreed sugar free sodas are NOT healthy....they are full of additives and sweetners ..... clean water is healthy, diet sodas coke 0 etc is not anything other than less sugar more other additives, none of which is good for you.