July 15, 2008
Bangkok - The government’s stimulus package to help Thai people deal with the high cost of living is considered as measures to play down the political pressure.
Pipob Udorn, Thammasat University’s Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy professor, said the government used people’s taxes to buy time for its administration.
He questioned if the government had the medium and long-term measures to link to the launched measures or not.
Pramont Sutheewong, president of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC), agreed with the government’s measures, believing they were only the short-term measures or they could distort the country’s income structure.
The government was urged to make the people have more income so as to cope with the soaring spending.
Nearly 0% excise tax will be applied to all kinds of diesel and gasohol oil including the E20 and E85 fuel to reduce the transport cost burden.
The government’s measures also cover the public utility support for the power and water bills, and bus fares.
But there is no conclusion about the food coupon scheme yet.
Santi Vilassakdanont, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), admitted the government’s measures were part of its campaign for votes.
Santi believed the government’s revenue would not be affected by the stimulus package much as more value-added taxes were collected from rising oil and product prices.
