I've been around long enough to see the following examples of imcompetence and blatent thievery in Thailand.
I thought i'd highly a few examples, then point to where and how a bigger hole is being filled in with tax reciepts.
Back in 2014/15 Thailand(s) largest banks had previously invested in the UK Steel Industry, the washout was essentially a completely leveraged investment which would have bankrupted the Thai banking system, as the steelworks went bankrupt.
The rippling effects especially as the banks sit on a massive collection of real-estate that when the purchasers default, the bank if it can not sell for the rate it would have gotten literally holds on its balance sheets as zombie assets which have a paper value but not actual liquid value (quite literally i looked at a property 8 yrs ago and they would not budge even though a tree had grown through and took the roof out and structural issues had started with the foundations) in the US only banks holding T-Bills can do this (hence blowing up in March)...
Would have been astounding -> instead the BoT covered for the Thai banking system whilst the Thai Banks upped fees elsewhere to compensate over the years later for their huge losses, this was done by increasing the AMT withdrawal cost(s) per 0-25,000/30,000 THB from 150 THB -> 180 THB -> 200 THB -> 250 THB (where it sits today) which impacts tourists/expats, it was also an increase in domestic charges (depositing in to a branch in a difference province, and fees for withdrawals in difference provinces), likewise fees for generic banking services.
This allowed the Thai Banking System to survive for another day utilising the cover of the BoT, and upping fees to gouge as much money as possible from out of province spending and tourists/expats.
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Likewise over the years.
Thailand on *numerous* occasions has introduced entry and exit taxes, i've seen 4 each time its a promise of 'healthcare' or this or that and eventually folded into the airline ticket (a flight used to cost something like 800 THB from Bangkok to KL for an example, domestic was dirt cheap, aside from the rising costs of operating an airline, the international flight costs have had some 1,500 THB absorbed into the ticket with 3 different entry/exit taxes, and a new one has recently been introduced... this likewise has the same promise used many times before (fund for healthcare etc) and likely will have an additional one 5 yrs from now....
This negatively impacts tourists/expats but not the locals so much so there's barely any looking into the underlying incompetence that led to each introduction of these taxes, and why there has now been two entry taxes, two exit taxes added and still none of the promises of healthcare/emergency care in an accident for tourism etc.
----
Which brings me to their latest example of incompetence, the introduction of taxation for remittances.
Thailand has entered the demographics trap.
It has more elderly than it has young, a country utilises populist politics to get into power time and time again by providing promises of this or that throughout ones life, the plebeians don't use the intellect in their head to try and understand how from A-Z it will occur -> the same is currently going on for Thailand latest vote bribe, the 10,000 THB promise for a CBDC like coupon....
The issue is very much similar to the same as we have in state and private pensions in the West... the US is a ponzi scheme, the UK's is bankrupt, and if we move onto private pensions, BTGroup PLC last time i checked was 500 billion pounds in a hole and that was over 10 yrs ago, likewise IBM is in a huge f*****g hole.
Basically they 'the state', and 'private' promised what could not be delivered - fraud by any other word.
Thailand has an issue
There are 12-13 million Thai's collecting from the social security fund (it starts at around 500 baht a month and rises to 750 baht a month) small change right? That figure will continue to rise.
Only 4% of the population of Thailand pays tax, so somewhere in that 25-55 group is : 2,840,000 people paying tax.
On the other hand, when a Thai gets a proper job for even a short period of time, they get life of social security benefits.... so you have 2.8m people currently paying for the social security benefits of 12-13 million people... and that number will increase.
13m x 600 THB (avg'd) 7,800,000,000 THB = 219,367,502 USD x 12 = 2,632,410,032 USD annually...
The Government there for is 'stealing' from other avenues to cover the shortfall....
One of those avenues is 'tourist/expats', now where does this argument come from... well the introduction of the new taxes...
There's some 2,000,000 Expats in/across Thailand, the average living cost is 2,600$ per month per expat (there will be people that spend less, there will be people that spend more). roughly 92,000 THB a month when all one-off costs and living costs are taken into consideration, each of which will be 'remittance'.
Now if we factor in that the new tax is specifically to be treated as 'income' tax, therefore it automatically has social security deducted, which isn't to the benefit of the person paying the tax (they are not entitled to unless have a wp etc)...
So 750 THB x 2,000,000 x 12 = 18,000,000,000 THB = 506,215,260 USD
Which offsets any shortfalls for years to come -> whilst also providing a nice buffer for the state with the additional income tax collection(s).
8,500 THB x 12 x 2,000,000 = 204,000,000,000 THB = 5,738,122,960 USD.
Now obviously there will be some that don't pay and others using dual taxation etc. but even at 10% SSF = 50,621,526 USD | Income Tax = 573,812,296 USD which translate into sizeable values into THB
It's then you get to see it's all just robbing their expats just to continue to hide the incompetence and continue the populist vote buying.
I thought i'd highly a few examples, then point to where and how a bigger hole is being filled in with tax reciepts.
Back in 2014/15 Thailand(s) largest banks had previously invested in the UK Steel Industry, the washout was essentially a completely leveraged investment which would have bankrupted the Thai banking system, as the steelworks went bankrupt.
The rippling effects especially as the banks sit on a massive collection of real-estate that when the purchasers default, the bank if it can not sell for the rate it would have gotten literally holds on its balance sheets as zombie assets which have a paper value but not actual liquid value (quite literally i looked at a property 8 yrs ago and they would not budge even though a tree had grown through and took the roof out and structural issues had started with the foundations) in the US only banks holding T-Bills can do this (hence blowing up in March)...
Would have been astounding -> instead the BoT covered for the Thai banking system whilst the Thai Banks upped fees elsewhere to compensate over the years later for their huge losses, this was done by increasing the AMT withdrawal cost(s) per 0-25,000/30,000 THB from 150 THB -> 180 THB -> 200 THB -> 250 THB (where it sits today) which impacts tourists/expats, it was also an increase in domestic charges (depositing in to a branch in a difference province, and fees for withdrawals in difference provinces), likewise fees for generic banking services.
This allowed the Thai Banking System to survive for another day utilising the cover of the BoT, and upping fees to gouge as much money as possible from out of province spending and tourists/expats.
----
Likewise over the years.
Thailand on *numerous* occasions has introduced entry and exit taxes, i've seen 4 each time its a promise of 'healthcare' or this or that and eventually folded into the airline ticket (a flight used to cost something like 800 THB from Bangkok to KL for an example, domestic was dirt cheap, aside from the rising costs of operating an airline, the international flight costs have had some 1,500 THB absorbed into the ticket with 3 different entry/exit taxes, and a new one has recently been introduced... this likewise has the same promise used many times before (fund for healthcare etc) and likely will have an additional one 5 yrs from now....
This negatively impacts tourists/expats but not the locals so much so there's barely any looking into the underlying incompetence that led to each introduction of these taxes, and why there has now been two entry taxes, two exit taxes added and still none of the promises of healthcare/emergency care in an accident for tourism etc.
----
Which brings me to their latest example of incompetence, the introduction of taxation for remittances.
Thailand has entered the demographics trap.
It has more elderly than it has young, a country utilises populist politics to get into power time and time again by providing promises of this or that throughout ones life, the plebeians don't use the intellect in their head to try and understand how from A-Z it will occur -> the same is currently going on for Thailand latest vote bribe, the 10,000 THB promise for a CBDC like coupon....
The issue is very much similar to the same as we have in state and private pensions in the West... the US is a ponzi scheme, the UK's is bankrupt, and if we move onto private pensions, BTGroup PLC last time i checked was 500 billion pounds in a hole and that was over 10 yrs ago, likewise IBM is in a huge f*****g hole.
Basically they 'the state', and 'private' promised what could not be delivered - fraud by any other word.
Thailand has an issue
There are 12-13 million Thai's collecting from the social security fund (it starts at around 500 baht a month and rises to 750 baht a month) small change right? That figure will continue to rise.
Only 4% of the population of Thailand pays tax, so somewhere in that 25-55 group is : 2,840,000 people paying tax.
On the other hand, when a Thai gets a proper job for even a short period of time, they get life of social security benefits.... so you have 2.8m people currently paying for the social security benefits of 12-13 million people... and that number will increase.
13m x 600 THB (avg'd) 7,800,000,000 THB = 219,367,502 USD x 12 = 2,632,410,032 USD annually...
The Government there for is 'stealing' from other avenues to cover the shortfall....
One of those avenues is 'tourist/expats', now where does this argument come from... well the introduction of the new taxes...
There's some 2,000,000 Expats in/across Thailand, the average living cost is 2,600$ per month per expat (there will be people that spend less, there will be people that spend more). roughly 92,000 THB a month when all one-off costs and living costs are taken into consideration, each of which will be 'remittance'.
Now if we factor in that the new tax is specifically to be treated as 'income' tax, therefore it automatically has social security deducted, which isn't to the benefit of the person paying the tax (they are not entitled to unless have a wp etc)...
So 750 THB x 2,000,000 x 12 = 18,000,000,000 THB = 506,215,260 USD
Which offsets any shortfalls for years to come -> whilst also providing a nice buffer for the state with the additional income tax collection(s).
8,500 THB x 12 x 2,000,000 = 204,000,000,000 THB = 5,738,122,960 USD.
Now obviously there will be some that don't pay and others using dual taxation etc. but even at 10% SSF = 50,621,526 USD | Income Tax = 573,812,296 USD which translate into sizeable values into THB
It's then you get to see it's all just robbing their expats just to continue to hide the incompetence and continue the populist vote buying.
