Pheu Thai opposes land and building taxes bill

[MaiChai]

Thais mostly don't pay tax. This would include farmers, street sellers, food vendors, etc. Even those who are salaried and pay tax that way often have second jobs/businesses that are not taxed. Thus IMHO land and property taxes are long over due.

We had a similar situation in the UK some years back regarding valuations of properties. In the uk properties in the same area are very similar and thus its much easier to value them. In Thailand its not the same; you could have two properties next to each other with extremes of houses; one with a shack on it,the other with a palace. Thus valuing property will be much harder. I would even go as far as to say a little tea money to the valuer might go a long way to saving you some tax!

[Gonsalviz]

I read the OP headline and the quoted line below twice with complete disbelief

The Pheu Thai Party today voiced strong opposition to the proposed land and building taxes bill saying it will inflict more hardship to the people

Do PTP actually understand what they inflicted on the whole country or are they just ignoring it and hoping people will forget

I hope the people actually realise why any future government will need to raise taxes - because every single adult in Thailand will be paying dearly for the huge loss that PTP inflicted on them for the next 10 years

Unbelievable ignorance

Actually under ptp governments, thailands growth has been higher than it has with any other government in its history.

It also boasted lower curruption scores than any other government.

Like em or not. Most Thais were doing pretty well until all this trouble started.

Are you talking about the rice pledging scheme from PTP where the rice farmers were in dire straights (some committed suicide) because they couldn't get paid for their rice? That trouble? Yeah, they were doing fine.

[Gonsalviz]

How does someone that lives hand to mouth afford taxes?

[trogers]

How does someone that lives hand to mouth afford taxes?

The only tax someone poor like this pays is VAT.

But being a vagabond with a title deed to a castle is not poor.

[Stradavarius37]

If PTP doesn't like it - than it must be good for the country and its development - because those sh#t-for-brains dumb f$cks are evil.

[billd766]

PTP are just vote catching. No one like paying taxes, that is human nature. But land and property taxes are part of a mature society. The bigger (more valuable) the house/property the more land tax you pay. This is a tax on the landowning classes and is fair. There is a threshold for these taxes and that can be adjusted as property/wealth increases. There is also a higher tax on undeveloped property which should stimulate growth. Now the sting in the tail. Is the Thai government going to collect taxes from 'illegal' farang land owners? We all know the vagaries of the land ownership deal in Thailand. We 'own' our properties, but actually legally we don't. So by collecting land taxes from 'illegal' ownership does this legalise us? Big question. So may I suggest that every farang 'landowner' would be only too happy to pay these taxes if it guaranteed us legality. Please think about that government. Thais can buy property (even football clubs) in Europe/US without restriction, but the Europeans/US citizens are denied the same rights in Thailand, I do not feel the happiness from that situation!

Quote "Now the sting in the tail. Is the Thai government going to collect taxes from 'illegal' farang land owners? We all know the vagaries of the land ownership deal in Thailand. We 'own' our properties, but actually legally we don't."

That is not totally correct at all. I and many other people I know don't own the house and land at all. The house where I live and the 2 parcels of land are totally owned by my wife and have been for many years and there is no "company" deal involved at all. It dcoesn't bother me in the slightest that my wife owns it. When I was married in the UK I co-owned the house with my wife. After we divorced she owned the house and I had to pay the motgage when I was working.

[ramrod711]

Seems ironic to me that the complaint comes from Issan, one would think the majority of complaints would come from Bangkok and resort areas where property values are extremely high. I doubt that most voters in Issan will be affected by a tax on their homes.

[trogers]

Seems ironic to me that the complaint comes from Issan, one would think the majority of complaints would come from Bangkok and resort areas where property values are extremely high. I doubt that most voters in Issan will be affected by a tax on their homes.

Perhaps the strategy in having a poor nominee hold title to a few thousand rais of idle land cannot be a means to evade land tax...