Democrat and Land Tax

21 Apr
2010

As the red shirts’ occupation of Rajprasong shows no sign of abating, at least the cabinet has proved that there still is life beyond all the drama. Bangkok Post reports:

Cabinet OKs draft bill on new land tax

The cabinet has approved a long-awaited draft bill on land and building taxation.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the cabinet’s approval yesterday for the draft submitted by the Finance Ministry was part of an effort to create social equality in land ownership and develop unoccupied land to generate income for local communities.

[...]

The process to enact the new taxes is expected to take about four years – two years to pass through parliament and two years for the grace period to expire, Mr Korn said.

This would have been quite a big issue under normal (i.e. peaceful) circumstance. The new tax, if it really comes into effect, will naturally hit land- and property-owners pretty hard and will move Thailand a step closer to a real progressive tax system. Reforming land and property taxation in Thailand has long been a pipe dream project mainly because it would be unpopular among the rich. Various governments tried, with varying intensity, to come up with something meaningful but ultimately failed each time.

That the Democrat-led government has managed to even get a cabinet approval on the draft bill is a remarkable achievement in itself. The Dems, and Korn in particular, announced in the first few months after assuming power that a land and property tax bill would be one of the government’s main aims. As the above report states, though, there is still a long way to go. It can take two years for the draft bill to go through Parliament – and there is no guarantee that the Dems will remain in power during all that period.

The idea that the Dems would do something that hurts the rich may be perplexing to some, as it is commonly held that most of the wealthier Thais support the party. I have heard from a source that within the party Abhisit and Korn are the main advocates of this project but many other senior figures in the party oppose it precisely because it would harm the party’s support base. And as BangkokDan remarks, the reaction of Thailand’s largest property owner will be interesting. ;)

All in all, I believe this is one of the (admittedly few) things the Dems get right these days. If only they could live up to their “Democrat” name a little more…

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5 Responses to Democrat and Land Tax

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Tweets that mention » Democrat and Land Tax TumblerBlog.com – A Thai political and current affairs blog -- Topsy.com

April 21st, 2010 at 3:25 am

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Saksith Saiyasombut, Panuwat. Panuwat said: BLOG: Democrat and Land Tax http://bit.ly/b98fBU [...]

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Ricefield Radio

April 21st, 2010 at 4:20 am

Land tax in itself is not wrong or right. The thinking that the rich will pay is of coarse totally wrong. The rich have ways to defer Taxes. Always have, always will.

The regular homeowner will bear the brunt along with the poor who can’t afford to own real property. The Democrats are quick to say “some” farmers won’t have to pay land tax, how nice of them. It’s the other 30 million that get shafted. If you are poor and you rent is your landlord going to be a nice guy and cover the extra cost of the tax, not in his next lifetime. He’s going to pass it on. As the majority of Thai poor rent, students rent, transients rent etc they are the ones that will shoulder the tax burden. They are also the one that can least afford it.

That’s my take on land tax, it’s a money grab. In other countries you get something for your tax money, like potable water, sewers, garbage collection and pavement in front of your house. How are they going to spend it, because if they just give it to the military to replace the equipment they abandoned or lost lately, I’ll really be pissed off.

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Anonymous2

April 21st, 2010 at 5:39 am

@RR:

Then (imho), you need to get ready to be pissed off.

In the village I go to regularly, the government-supplied water has been off for 3 months. Yet the government still expects people to pay. The government-supplied electricity is off more often than it is on, yet the government still expect people to pay.

So the people go to wash at the local stream like this is the 1700′s. They light candles and turn on battery torches at night. They complain but would not dream of not paying, for fear of the the door crashing in at dead of night…

Thailand has gone so far downhill in the 10 years I have been coming here, it seems like a whole different country. It has degenerated into a failed state – it is already ungovernable – a complete fuck-up and so far as I can see, there is only one person responsible. Absolute power brings absolute responsibility. if this were my handiwork, I wouldn’t smile very much either.

I look forward to the day when the Thais, like other nations before them, rid themselves of the parasites at the top of the food chain, but make no mistake, Abhisit is not there to govern the country for Thais, he is there solely to preserve the status quo. he is merely one more whore in a land chock full of whores, and he will cheerfully kill hundreds or thousands to do the bidding of the … and the privy council. If it is not very careful, Thailand will become a new Burma, indeed, many think it is a good part of the way there already.

When all this is over, Abhisit will not be able to walk down a street in Thailand without looking over his shoulder, because I truly believe this genie is not going back in the bottle. Even if he crushes the present red protest sites, the fight will go underground, at which point, history shows it is just not winnable by the elites. They really ought to negotiate because if I am any judge of the mood outside Bangkok, they are in a lose/lose situation but astoundingly appear too arrogant or stupid (or both) to understand it.

I am reminded of the prophecy that ….. What seemed impossible even 2 years ago appears increasingly not only to be possible, but probable.

And still they fiddle while Rome burns. If Anupong has any nous at all, he will make a coup and invite the Reds to take over. But it will involve a lot of people going to the wall. The Reds, should they win, must be equally as ruthless as the amart, there is no other way, blood must flow and Thailand must have its Ceaucescus.

Sad, but I true I think, there will be no half-measures possible for either side. Burma or Romania, one or the other.

note: comment edited.

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Backlash Say Hi!

April 21st, 2010 at 5:50 am

[...] Related – but hardly noticed – key development? The finally proposed land & building tax. Do I hear land reform? Right, it’s only a basic agreement in principle so far. There’s [...]

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Jaded

April 21st, 2010 at 5:51 am

This is an utterly transparent piece of propaganda to bolster the fabricated image of the Democrat party as a progressive force in Thai politics. Any objective observer can see clearly that they abandoned or were prevented from implementing the progressive measures that they claimed to seek when they formed the government. Now, with one eye on history’s judgement, some cosmetic measures that can be referred to in the future have to be at least given cabinet approval. What they are saying is the Democrat party is not solely the party that represents the interests of the military, the elite and corporate capitalism. To take on their persona for a moment I can imagine the rationale going something like this.
We have now proposed a brave new tax against property. And Thailand will change in a good way if you just give us the time we ask for (then we can conveniently let this proposal die the same way as all our other loudly announced progressive proposals). You see we are the good guys. We have limitations because we depend on other people for power but really, even though those other guys may not be good like us, we are good and, given time, we will make a difference.
The good guys are going to bring in a land tax, reform the constitution progressively and the election process will be made fairer. The good guys are going to help indebted rice farmers, fund friendly benevolent ISOC humanitarian work and even strengthen Thailand’s military defenses with new advanced weapons for our brave soldiers.
The good guys…
Pull the other one, its got bells on it.

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