PM Prayut floats idea of raising VAT to 8%

[bandito]

On ‎3‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 4:05 PM, robblok said:

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

 

Maybe reconsider the subs.

 

Like in the Netherlands where VAT is 21%, if not raised again.

[Sphere]

Quote

PM Prayut floats idea of raising VAT to 8%

 

Gotta admit, HE is the best floater of ideas east of the Suez canal.....

[mtls2005]

It is so difficult being the top-man, and preaching from on high.

 

Then when no one understands "what he meant", he blames others.

[dinsdale]

What he meant to say was 9%. How could they get it soooooo wrong?

[Srikcir]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

explain the gap between tax revenue and people’s demand for government support.

No.

Prayut needs to take responsibility for this gap instead of identifying the degree of the gap.

Thailand still has one of the lowest tax collection rate in the world. Compounding this is that for the last 2 years Prayut has -

• permanently reduced business tax rates
• increased business tax credits
• created or increased tax deductions for both individuals and businesses
• committed to off-budget expenditures (ie., TAT)
• subsidized (aka "soft") personal and SME loans
• forgiven personal loans
• provided substantial agricultural and village grants
• used foreign funding for transportation projects
• maintained a strong baht that makes exports noncompetitive
• increased the budget deficit
• experienced highest unemployment since 2010
• lost substantial foreign investments
• increased size of government
• encouraged higher household debt

The government needs to professionally manage the economy. And that requires, sometimes difficult and unpopular cost-cutting and cost-saving policies to balance a cornucopia of populist policies. But instead it seems to be trying to position itself for the next election.

 

 

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

1 hour ago, Sphere said:

 

Gotta admit, HE is the best floater of ideas east of the Suez canal.....

They are however all bricks.

[dinsdale]

11 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

No.

Prayut needs to take responsibility for this gap instead of identifying the degree of the gap.

Thailand still has one of the lowest tax collection rate in the world. Compounding this is that for the last 2 years Prayut has -

• permanently reduced business tax rates
• increased business tax credits
• created or increased tax deductions for both individuals and businesses
• committed to off-budget expenditures (ie., TAT)
• subsidized (aka "soft") personal and SME loans
• forgiven personal loans
• provided substantial agricultural and village grants
• used foreign funding for transportation projects
• maintained a strong baht that makes exports noncompetitive
• increased the budget deficit
• experienced highest unemployment since 2010
• lost substantial foreign investments
• increased size of government
• encouraged higher household debt

The government needs to professionally manage the economy. And that requires, sometimes difficult and unpopular cost-cutting and cost-saving policies to balance a cornucopia of populist policies. But instead it seems to be trying to position itself for the next election.

 

You seem to have missed the bt36 billion for 3 subs, then there's the helicopters and all the rest of the armaments.

Edited March 11, 2017 by dinsdale

[Ricardo]

Perhaps the new medium-speed freight-railway from China via Laos should be paid-for by China, whose economywill benefit from it, rather than Thailand ?

 

And perhaps the single submarine, not yet paid-for, should be delayed by a decade or two ?

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

You seem to have missed the bt36 billion for 3 subs, then there's the helicopters and all the rest of the armaments.

Yes I have.

List was intended to be a sampling of causes.

Obviously many more factors can be added, ie., 5% pay raises for military and civil service every year since the junta took control while minimum wage remained constant. The military is bloated with 5,000 flag officers (ie., generals & admirals), more per soldier capita than the USA.

[Sydebolle]

Maybe it is a blessing that Thailand is soooooo wired into all those social media today. Hence it is more difficult to get the purchase order signed for the three Chinese submarines (compare this with the purchase procedure of the Spanish aircraft carrier, nicely barnacled for decades at the pier of Sattahip); likewise the Green Men managed to deplete 85% of the Kingdom's foreign currency reserves - according to some news flying around.

Happy days are ahead of us; I honestly wonder how much of the domestic trade goes above the board, against VAT invoices. Not everybody is shopping at Foodland, Big C or 7/11 and industrial purchasing still go automatically with the question "do you need a VAT-receipt?". 

And, in closing, Thaksin's kids apparently don't have to pay THB 12 billion in taxes for the 24-hours purchase/sale of the Shin shares. Twelve billion Baht look like:
12'000'000'000 - or the price of one submarine - or 1/8th of the yearly extra tax income the government wants to generate with the increase from 7% to 8%. 

If you're serious, clear up the old mess first - the money is lying on the street. 

It also needs to be mentioned that the announced increase in booze tax and excise money will result in less money in the state's coffers at the end of the day as the smugglers will be more active again while the beer consumption will free fall. This, unless the "un-weak" beer lobby will be knocking on the right doors. 

Edited March 11, 2017 by Sydebolle

[fish monger]

41 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Yes I have.

List was intended to be a sampling of causes.

Obviously many more factors can be added, ie., 5% pay raises for military and civil service every year since the junta took control while minimum wage remained constant. The military is bloated with 5,000 flag officers (ie., generals & admirals), more per soldier capita than the USA.

Actually, it's 1,092 generals...Still way to many and for what...? 5555

[elgordo38]

23 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

I think its good plan.But where will the extra money be spend on?

Hmm let me count the ways

[MorristheRunt]

He needs more hair dye, silk suits and additions to his property portfolio in Westminster, Knightsbridge and 5th Avenue.

 

When are the Thai people going to wake up?  They are having their pants taken down, and their anus's slapped big time.

[elgordo38]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday blamed local media for reporting incorrectly his intention to increase the value-added-tax rate from 7 per cent to 8 per cent. 

Ah yes our wily PM is again laying the groundwork to pass his media control bill. License the reporters. Wily Coyote has nothing on this guy. 

[elgordo38]

19 hours ago, yellowboat said:

He is just so misunderstood.  Perhaps they should have an election and elect somebody who is easier to understand. 

Kind of reminds me of a movie "Mad Max Goes To Thailand"

[elgordo38]

17 hours ago, Dap said:

So those submarines took out too big a chunk eh?

The VAT tax sunk them

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, MorristheRunt said:

He needs more hair dye, silk suits and additions to his property portfolio in Westminster, Knightsbridge and 5th Avenue.

 

When are the Thai people going to wake up?  They are having their pants taken down, and their anus's slapped big time.

I hate to use the S word but its becoming a global phenomena. VW scammed millions but now has beaten out Toyota as the world leader in new car sales. Banks in Italy are going broke but still investors flush with "fiat money" are lining up to bail them out. There are just so many "Go Figure, Sheer Madness" things happening in the world today. I think aliens have landed on earth and have used some kind of universal mind control which they are presently fine tuning. 

[Shawn0000]

3 hours ago, fish monger said:

Actually, it's 1,092 generals...Still way to many and for what...? 5555

 

Actually, that is just how many changed ranks a few years ago, we don't know exactly how many there are, certainly at least 1,092 but estimated at around 1,500, three times the number in the US which has an army 4 times the size.

[DrTuner]

Trough isn't flowing, snouts are dry. Open 'em feed valves!

[DrTuner]

4 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

I honestly wonder how much of the domestic trade goes above the board, against VAT invoices. Not everybody is shopping at Foodland, Big C or 7/11 and industrial purchasing still go automatically with the question "do you need a VAT-receipt?". 

Cash society, I reckon 60% of the daily trade is unaccounted for, closer to 100% in the sticks.

[natway09]

He has to get the extra money from somewhere to build these stupid high speed trains when they cannot even run a 

trains system now & still waiting for a decent freight train to Lam Chabang from  Bangkok to get some of those

old bloody trucks off the road.

[docshock13]

This should go over like a turd in a punchbowl. 

[dcnx]

On 3/9/2017 at 4:28 PM, darksidedog said:

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

In the accounts of hair dye companies.

[elgordo38]

On 3/11/2017 at 2:42 PM, Shawn0000 said:

 

Actually, that is just how many changed ranks a few years ago, we don't know exactly how many there are, certainly at least 1,092 but estimated at around 1,500, three times the number in the US which has an army 4 times the size.

To many chiefs and not enough Indians??

[Shawn0000]

On 11/03/2017 at 3:15 PM, DrTuner said:

Cash society, I reckon 60% of the daily trade is unaccounted for, closer to 100% in the sticks.

 

Bloomberg estimates Thailands shadow economy to be 57.2%, the seventh highest in the world, the highest in South East Asia and only outdone by a few African and Central American countries.  Of course a lot of it is gambling, prostitution, bribery and the like, but the little shops selling noodle soup contribute to it as well, after all, if you have no employees and turn over less than I think it 1.5 million, then they don't even ask you to declare your earnings, only in Thailand!