PM floats idea of raising VAT to 8%
By The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has floated the idea of raising the value-added tax (VAT) rate by one percentage point from the current 7 per cent to 8 per cent to raise an additional Bt100 billion in annual tax revenues to finance various public projects.

 

He urged the public to help shoulder the burden so that the government has more financial resoruces to implement projects requested by the majority of people. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/business/EconomyAndTourism/30308453

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-09

Last week they told us they were far from bankrupt.

 

The only thing we really need is Police...you pay them already though, just get them to work.

Making citizens pay? nope .... that amount can be easily raise by curbing corruption - stream lining procurement process and cutting number of civil servants playing on fb and sleeping during work. I guess no politicians in Thailand can change until education improves.

7 minutes ago, mike324 said:

Making citizens pay? nope .... that amount can be easily raise by curbing corruption - stream lining procurement process and cutting number of civil servants playing on fb and sleeping during work. I guess no politicians in Thailand can change until education improves.

Wont be done.. governments love to let their citizens pay. 

 

Maybe reconsider the subs.

Edited March 9, 20179 yr by robblok

I wish I owned a country.

So the legislated VAT rate of 10% that no government has been brave enough to enforce is getting closer. 

An extra 100 Billion Baht. No point wondering where fat chunks of that are going to end up.

They got to find the money for the new submarines from somewhere.

2 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

An extra 100 Billion Baht. No point wondering where fat chunks of that are going to end up.

yep a few pension plans could be bolstered that's for sure

Thailand can be ridiculously expensive for some things. Those things can be plentiful because Thailand doesn't really produce much so has to import. 

 

Coffee makers, for example. I always compare prices here to back home in the UK. I know - I shouldn't compare, but I need a fair price to begin with to see how much I'm paying in duty. So, I found a nice coffee maker in the sale. Was 19,000 Baht and now it's 15,000 Baht. I check online in the UK and the same coffee machine is 8,500 Baht. It's not even a British brand. I'll be knocking that idea on the head. 

 

Apparently buying coffee in Thailand is cheap. So coffee machines are kept expensive as to not steal business from the little man. My Thai friend told me this as an instant and defensive excuse to justify the rip off prices of foreign products. 'Cheap?' I asked. Compared to the average salary it's certainly not cheap, and I don't owe anyone my business. You earn money, you're not simply owed it.

 

Amazing how nationalism can trump common sense and self preservation for so many. So 8% or 10%. Most things are a huge rip off anyway. 

38 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

I wish I owned a country.

Me too. But not 3rd world !

10 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

Thailand can be ridiculously expensive for some things. Those things can be plentiful because Thailand doesn't really produce much so has to import. 

 

Coffee makers, for example. I always compare prices here to back home in the UK. I know - I shouldn't compare, but I need a fair price to begin with to see how much I'm paying in duty. So, I found a nice coffee maker in the sale. Was 19,000 Baht and now it's 15,000 Baht. I check online in the UK and the same coffee machine is 8,500 Baht. It's not even a British brand. I'll be knocking that idea on the head. 

 

Apparently buying coffee in Thailand is cheap. So coffee machines are kept expensive as to not steal business from the little man. My Thai friend told me this as an instant and defensive excuse to justify the rip off prices of foreign products. 'Cheap?' I asked. Compared to the average salary it's certainly not cheap, and I don't owe anyone my business. You earn money, you're not simply owed it.

 

Amazing how nationalism can trump common sense and self preservation for so many. So 8% or 10%. Most things are a huge rip off anyway. 

 

The import duty on a coffee maker is 30%, as it also is on blenders and many other household appliances, this not to prevent stealing business from the coffee venders or smoothie venders, but to allow Thai manufacturers of household appliances the chance to compete with cheap Chinese imports.  The UK did not do this, the duty on the same items is 3.3% and we have lost the majority of our manufacturing to overseas.  The simple answer, by a Thailand made coffee maker.

9 minutes ago, Shawn0000 said:

 

The import duty on a coffee maker is 30%, as it also is on blenders and many other household appliances, this not to prevent stealing business from the coffee venders or smoothie venders, but to allow Thai manufacturers of household appliances the chance to compete with cheap Chinese imports.  The UK did not do this, the duty on the same items is 3.3% and we have lost the majority of our manufacturing to overseas.  The simple answer, by a Thailand made coffee maker.

I'd rather buy a cheap Chinese copy. I have no idea of any Thai coffee makers and I have no faith in them. I buy on brand reputation. As I know of no Thai brands who make coffee makers, it would be simple of me to buy one. 

Guys, can you tell me if food here is taxable? I mean the stuff you buy at the grocery store - not restaurants? Strangely enough I never checked my bill for this.

 

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

I'd rather buy a cheap Chinese copy. I have no idea of any Thai coffee makers and I have no faith in them. I buy on brand reputation. As I know of no Thai brands who make coffee makers, it would be simple of me to buy one. 

 

I don't follow, you say you go on brand reputation but would rather buy a cheap Chinese copy, you mean you buy a "brand" even if you know it is actually just a copy?  I would go for the same ones you see coffee vendors using.

11 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

Guys, can you tell me if food here is taxable? I mean the stuff you buy at the grocery store - not restaurants? Strangely enough I never checked my bill for this.

 

 

 

 

 

I think everything sold has VAT apart from medicine.

4 minutes ago, Shawn0000 said:

 

I don't follow, you say you go on brand reputation but would rather buy a cheap Chinese copy, you mean you buy a "brand" even if you know it is actually just a copy?  I would go for the same ones you see coffee vendors using.

Yup, also put the tapwater in a plastic Evian bottle first...it improves the coffee 

3 minutes ago, Shawn0000 said:

 

I don't follow, you say you go on brand reputation but would rather buy a cheap Chinese copy, you mean you buy a "brand" even if you know it is actually just a copy?  I would go for the same ones you see coffee vendors using.

It means I have no faith in Thai coffee makers. I know nothing of them. 

 

I'd rather a cheap Chinese copy was tongue in cheek. As in they're cheap and cheerful. I know what my money is getting me. With a Thai coffee maker I have no idea. 

1 hour ago, Chang_paarp said:

So the legislated VAT rate of 10% that no government has been brave enough to enforce is getting closer. 

Actually, I think you will find you are wrong. It used to be 10 percent before it was reduced to 7. 

58 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

An extra 100 Billion Baht. No point wondering where fat chunks of that are going to end up.

'We will use your money any way we wish. If you don't like it, tough.'

5 minutes ago, baboon said:

'We will use your money any way we wish. If you don't like it, tough.'

 

The problem of taxation... we will never think our money is well spend anyway. That is even more true here in Thailand with all the corruption and inefficient bureaucratie. 

14 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

It means I have no faith in Thai coffee makers. I know nothing of them. 

 

I'd rather a cheap Chinese copy was tongue in cheek. As in they're cheap and cheerful. I know what my money is getting me. With a Thai coffee maker I have no idea. 

Buy an AJ-brand machine....sure will work for an hour or so (if you're lucky). Made in T......

2 minutes ago, robblok said:

 

The problem of taxation... we will never think our money is well spend anyway. That is even more true here in Thailand with all the corruption and inefficient bureaucratie. 

Aye, but at least where you and I come from, the public have the option to kick up a stink if we don't like it. I am all for taxation, public services and the welfare state, but that does not mean any government should just snatch people's money then show them two fingers. I think you and I are on more or less the same page here...

5 minutes ago, fruitman said:

Buy an AJ-brand machine....sure will work for an hour or so (if you're lucky). Made in T......

Exactly. A good reputation means people will come back (in a free market). A crappy reputation means you only sell because you're a monopoly (in an unfree market like Thailand)

 

a lot of companies here don't try or even aspire to be good because they don't need to be. Who suffers? The consumer. 

4 minutes ago, baboon said:

Aye, but at least where you and I come from, the public have the option to kick up a stink if we don't like it. I am all for taxation, public services and the welfare state, but that does not mean any government should just snatch people's money then show them two fingers. I think you and I are on more or less the same page here...

Of course we are, but even where I am from no matter who we select they always tax us and it never seems to go down. Maybe there is a little bit more control where the tax is spend on. As for the welfare state.. I am for it for the most needy.. but there is a lot of abuse in they system. 

 

P.s I am against those bloody subs (and many other army toys)

13 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

Exactly. A good reputation means people will come back (in a free market). A crappy reputation means you only sell because you're a monopoly (in an unfree market like Thailand)

 

a lot of companies here don't try or even aspire to be good because they don't need to be. Who suffers? The consumer. 

Just go to a big Tesco and see how agressive the AJ-sales are...I litterally had to push them away from my wife 3 times but they kept on running behind my back to yell to her.....we were there for a Panasonic portable radio though and my wife is too polite to tell them to p...off.

 

Made in Thailand stands for will work one hour (if lucky)....no service, no warranty...up to you.

Inevitable

This will send inflation soaring, well above the Government's supposed .98%,

as most shops  could not work out the extra 1%,and just add 8% on to the

prices,which already have 7% VAT on them, it happened last time they raised

the tax, inflation up, interest rates the same, not good.

regards worgeordie

57 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Actually, I think you will find you are wrong. It used to be 10 percent before it was reduced to 7. 

The current 7% came about as part of the response to the Asian collapse in the '90's. I was under the impression that the rate was increased just before  the collapse but not enacted when the need to reduce it back to 7%, it has to be reviewed every 12 months. If VAT was levied at 10% it was only for a brief period as there were lots of vested interests trying to prevent the rise.

Of course collecting the VAT from all parties who should pay is another story.

All in a week work:

 

- Go after the temple

- Get the Thaksin tax.

- Float raising VAT..

 

They must really be broke or desperate for more commissions...