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Thailand: PPRP unveils tax breaks for workers
The Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) unveiled tax schemes on Friday to help salaried workers, graduates and entrepreneurs.
While a reduction in income tax will be used to help salaried workers, new graduates and e-commerce entrepreneurs will be given tax breaks in order to get a head start in their career, according to Kobsak Pootrakool, the party’s spokesperson.
“These are the country’s first major tax adjustments in years,” said Mr Kobsak, adding that the measure will strike a note with middle-income earners, salaried workers and those new to the workforce.
Under the proposal, the PPRP will slash the tax rate for individual taxpayers by 10% in every tax bracket.
To put it simply, people earning less than 40,000 baht per month will no longer pay taxes, according to Mr Kobsak.
Currently, the Finance Ministry applies different tax brackets and tax rates. This measure falls under the progressive tax system in which the amount of tax depends on net income.
The new tax policy of the PPRP will reduce tax by 10% across the board.
“We’re proposing a 10% reduction for every tax bracket. For example, if your income falls into the 30% bracket, you’ll pay 20%. This means people with net income below 500,000 baht per year will not pay taxes,” he said.
The government collects about 300-400 billion baht annually from this group, according to Mr Kobsak, who is also a respected economist and expert on monetary policy.
To compensate for the revenue loss, he said the PPRP would expand the country’s taxpayer bases by increasing the number of SME businesses from 3 million to 5 million and implement tax reforms for greater efficiency.
The party was also mulling a two-year tax break for new e-commerce businesses and a five-year tax break for recent graduates, he said.
“This will be done in the hope of helping them save money needed to buy homes, cars, and shoulder other expenses,” he said.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1637598/pprp-unveils-tax-breaks-for-workers