Should alcohol be more expensive in Thailand?

[shirtless]

Only Government activists working with the tax office would be pushing for this more revenue , You are pricing Alcohol out of the market, i

[WhizBang]

Ban Lao Khao, that should solve most of the problems right there.

[Barnet]

"18,000 Thais die of alcohol-related problems annually."

Compared to how many road deaths??? I bet half these muppets calling for higher booze taxes at some point in the next week will run a red light, use their phone whilst driving or pull something illegal and dangerous.

Hiking the price of one vice will push the young or poor to seek alternative highs. Whether it be robbing to fund or using cheaper shat like glue.

Leave beer, fags alone.... God knows you need it living here.

[NCC1701A]

i was thinkin' these poor people don't have much money for doin' fun stuff. and drinkin' is cheap entertainment. so no tax increase.

if they build small chain link fence corrals in each village for the lao khao drinkers to keep them away from operating motor vehicles it might be alright.

same for the full moon party people. could be a good tourist attraction for the Chinese, they get to look at drunk Thais and Western backpackers roll around in the dirt.

[dominique355]

Alcoholic beverages should be taxed according to their alcohol content, not according to the price.

Only in Thailand does a bottle of cheap wine with 12% alcohol cost much more than a bottle of spirit with 41% alcohol.

And then there is the problem of tax free "lao khao " or moonshine, which is probably 75% of all consumed alcohol in this country.

By simply raising the percentage of the tax without fundamentally changing the tax structure will not accomplish anything ... except the Minister of Public Health being able to say that "they are intensifying the fight against alcoholism ", when in fact they do the opposite.

[boomerangutang]

Hey, I've got a great idea: Make only one recreational drug legal: Have it be the most harmful rec. drug: Alcohol Then allow one family to control nearly all the alcohol sold in Thailand (Charaon family). Sounds pretty cool, huh? But wait, there's more: Make hemp illegal. No matter that hemp is a plant which has seeds which are 100x more nutritional than rice, and that hemp can be used for 1,000 practical things, and would enable Thai farmers to make more money than with nutritionally bereft rice. Oh, and hemp can't get you stoned even if you smoke a p.u. truck load of the stuff.

Sound like good ideas? Thai politicians think so, because that's the law of the land.

[dcnx]

Just tax foreigners. That will fix everything.

[baboon]

I always figured drinking here was similarly priced to the UK.

Beer: In Pubs and Restaurants is nearly double (in BKK anyway).

Pint of Heineken - BKK: about 150-170 baht (Eq to £340)

Decent Pint (Vedette etc) - BKK: about 270 baht (Eq to £540)

Wine: Its nearly always more expensive

Liquor: Whisky: JW Black: 1800 to 3500 baht but you can't buy by the bottle in a UK pub.

Should alcohol be cheaper ? No - Definitely not.

Just because some idiots can't behave properly it shouldn't spoil it for those who enjoy a drink and behave responsibly.

Instead, handle drunk and disorderly behaviour more seriously.

Sanctimonious post. You may or may not be aware that the populace overwhelmingly comprise the 'indigenous', aka THAIS. And on a mean of 300 baht per day cannot afford to buy anything other than the locally produced crap, wine would better for them but even the locally produced shit is as expensive (around 3 x more than the UK) and there will always be those who like a drink to escape their day to day drudgery. Who are you to say they shouldn't?

This is it. What else does some poor sod have to look forward to after another low paid and tedious day at the farm/factory; an evening spent meditating? I think many forget what a grim existence life must be for so many in Thailand and it isn't like other affordable recreational opportunities abound.

[chrissables]

If alcohol becomes too expensive, then it will only bring about the production of moonshine on a grander scale.

In mama papa shops a large Leo beer is about 60 baht, when the minimum wage is 300 baht that is already expensive for Thai people. As you say making it more expensive will force them to turn to other ways to enjoy themselves.

[rasmus5150]

Not too bad, if only Thailand could make decent beer, like its neighbour Laos

Lao beer is a hundred times better than anything produced here in Thailand

The reason for the better beer in Laos, is because it is made by the Danish brewery Carlsberg.

[menzies233]

Oh brilliant idea! Drive even more of the too poor even for the locally brewed shit 'beer/whiskeys' to Lao khao why don't you. Cretins.

To be honest, driving the poorer people to become alcohol dependant slaves, forced to drink the rotten Lao Kao at 20 Baht a fix would be perfect for them. They could keep paying them the minimum possible wages, confident that they will still be able to get their cheap labour, as even the poorest will need to earn 20 Baht a day to get their fix!

By the time they are too old to work, most of these long time drinkers get simply sent home from the government hospitals to die with their families. (The hospitals around my place do not like the locals dying in situ - I think it makes for less paperwork if they die at home)

So, for the wealthier upper classes, it has to be a win all round eh?

[mesterm]

Looks like a pic from the full moon party. Where they sell "magic mushroom milkshakes", drugs are freely available, and cheap (potentially illegal) booze is sold in buckets to young backpackers. Perhaps regulating this would be an improvement? LOL

edit: I use to wear contact lenses. I got off a long flight one night and wanted a drink while in Boston. Went to the local pub and was refused a drink because of my red eyes. Bartender said I'd had too much. Maybe something like this would help also. Refusing to sell more booze to somebody already over the top.

But what if I have naturally reddish eyes...

[madmitch]

Stop pandering to local big business and raise the tax on locally produced liquor.

Imported decent liquor is already generally more expensive in Thailand than the UK and USA.

And make wine affordable, enticing people to drink wine rather than whisky. You just don't see a bottle of Scotch in the middle of the table in a restaurant in the West.

[anon467367354]

alcoholism is not the result of of it being inexpensive and easy to purchase,

It's a sign of an unequal society. Work on equality and the drug abuse, alcoholism,

teenage pregnancies, spouse abuse and more, go away, or at the least, greatly reduced.

[Emster23]

Raise the price of booze and possibly more stick ups to support the drinking habit. Also makes the illegal highs seem a more reasonable alternative regarding price. I'd like breath analyzer tests of those who come up with these ideas, especially their rationale.

[mcfish]

Why not add another layer to 711 say 6pm to midnight being no sale. Seems to be where it's heading anyway

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[tom21]

If the cost is too high the farmers will start making their own illegal moonshine, which would result in higher medical treatment costs and many deaths

they do now so it will become more common./

[Transporter]

They already pushed the prices up by banning it within 300 metres of schools. Nothing changed except the price. I have a good idea why this is but best not say.

[cumgranosalum]

"She also correlates alcohol intake with a descent into illegal drugs for young people." - Really? So surely if you put the price up then more young people will go in search of cheaper (illegal) highs?

THailand authorities seem to have an unerring desire to deflect blame of themselves and on to any cheap nape-of-the-neck un-researched reaction.

[Ulic]

The tax on alcohol has been raised significantly the last six years or so. Why not just ban

alcohol all together and see how that increases tourism from Muslim countries.

[smotherb]

Oh brilliant idea! Drive even more of the too poor even for the locally brewed shit 'beer/whiskeys' to Lao khao why don't you. Cretins.

Increase the price of lao cao, nam tam mao and all other local alcohol to premium import prices--would most likely improve the situation in the land of smiles considerably

[razer]

So ... why don't they show a photo of a drunk Thai? I'm not a bar hopper or night crawler, but I have actually seen more Thai men stretched out drunk on a side street than tourists.

And yes ... put a 1000% tax on any alcohol made outside of Thailand. In Thai thinking it will fix the problem and make the local moonshiners very, very happy ... and some politician$ very happy too.

Edited March 3, 2016 by razer

[ebean001]

Eliminate every thing that people enjoy is not the right answer. You do not want to make it like USA, etc

[rodknock]

how is raising tax going to reduce medical costs when the money goes into brown bags, just another avenue for corruption!!

look at cigarettes,tax the heck out of them and people still smoke.

just another stupid idea from some one who wants another way to line his pockets.

taxes are not the answer.

how many trillions have been spent by the U.S. government to stop drugs???

has it worked, a big no. all it did is give a lot of people government jobs and fill up prisons, did it stop it NO.

look what is happening, states are legalizing marijuana and taxing it. good way to make money.

there are countries where alcohol is not allowed, but it shows up in the country, whether imported or self produced!!!!!!!!

[mrfaroukh]

I don't agree people should be more sensible.

[Pepper9187]

The only thing it's gona make is :

The red label drinkers to drink 100 peppers,

The 100 pipers drinkers to drink samsong,

The samsong drinkers to drink blend,

The blend drinkers to drink hong-tong,

The Hong tong drinkers to drink Yadong or lao khraw

The Singha drinkers to drink Leo

The Leo drinkers to drink Chang

The Chang drinkers to drink Siam sato (mmmm yummy)

Nice job guys, it's really going to solve the health problem

Edited March 3, 2016 by Pepper9187

[ratcatcher]

So ... why don't they show a photo of a drunk Thai? I'm not a bar hopper or night crawler, but I have actually seen more Thai men stretched out drunk on a side street than tourists.

And yes ... put a 1000% tax on any alcohol made outside of Thailand. In Thai thinking it will fix the problem and make the local moonshiners very, very happy ... and some politician$ very happy too.

"So ... why don't they show a photo of a drunk Thai?"

Because they were too lazy to look for one. Here, this will keep you happy.

[raphoedon]

I'm just going to the fridge to get a pear cider, £2.20 $3 100bht, for 2 ltrs in Lidl. I wish I could find that in Thailand. ****Thai language removed****

Edited March 3, 2016 by metisdead

[DrTuner]

Why of course. Raise the tax to 1000%. Do the same for ciggies too. And vegetables, yuck. And put a tax on bits in internet, yeah!

I'll be looking at that mayhem from far, far away.

[Blue Muton]

Depends very much on if you want the poorer drinker getting smashed out their tiny minds on Lao Kao or not really.

IMHO you've pretty much hit the proverbial nail on its head there. We had a family member nearly die from the stuff a couple of years ago, it was such a tragedy to see a young man almost in a coma after he'd been allowed home. I thought he'd never walk again, but with the constant care of his family he made a decent recovery, knowing that to drink again would kill him. He soon hit this poison once more and stumbled into the rat killer electric fence nearby. At least it was a quicker end than a few more days or weeks on the moonshine.

This guy had no money, so the price of legal alcohol would not have had any impact upon him. As you infer, raising the cost of the good stuff will just drive more people towards the Lao Kao and other cheap illicit substances.

I just enjoy an occasional tipple so any increase would be of no consequence for me.