Thailand: Steep fall in tax revenues

• Jun 06, 2017

The Revenue Department’s collection fell short of target by 80 billion baht for the first eight months to May, largely due to the steep decline in petroleum income tax.
The tax shortfall adds to the country’s largest tax-collecting agency a possibility of failing to miss this fiscal year’s target.
Petroleum income tax for the eight months was 30 billion baht lower than the target and it is estimated the full-year shortfall will reach 45 billion, said Prasong Poontaneat, director-general of the Revenue Department.
Crude oil price stands at US$41 per barrel, well below the Revenue Department’s estimate of $60 a barrel on average this year, resulting in the tax revenue shortfall.
The government-initiated PromptPay, a cheap electronic money transfer service, takes a bite out of commercial banks’ net profit and resulting in lower tax payment to the Revenue Department, Mr Prasong said.
“In the 2017 fiscal year, we expect that we would not be able to achieve the 1.87-trillion-baht tax revenue target,” he said. “For fiscal 2018, the Revenue Department’s target is expected to be slightly higher than this fiscal [year].” The department collected 1.76 trillion baht, 7.2% below target, in the 2016 fiscal year ending on Sept 30, 2016, while the government collection was 2.39 trillion baht, which surpassed its target by 2.7%.
State revenue exceeded the collection target by 63.5 billion baht and surpassed the fiscal 2015 total by 180 billion baht.
A 56.2-billion-baht revenue surge from the 900- and 1800-megahertz spectrum auctions was the major contributor to the better-than-targeted revenue collection.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/finance/1263227/steep-fall-in-tax-revenues