Government dismisses Credit Suisse Wealth Report about Thailand’s wealth gap as unreliable

[mike324]

18 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Thailand must reform the tax laws. Tax avoidance by the rich and multi-national companies is a major reason for the increasing wealth gap and inequality. I hope the next elected government will reform the tax structure and stop kicking the property tax law down the road like this junta government. 

That is false, tax avoidance is not the reason for increasing wealth gap. The problem with tax is just enforcement, when we have police and generals running the country for the past decades, it never turns out good. Thailands tax laws are good enough, individual tax rate is pretty high (of course not as high as of those in Europe).

 

 The problem with increasing wealth gap is because the government has not reform the education for over 20 years. Each government thinks buying pc tablets, or throwing equipment at schools will make students smarter. The solution to decrease the wealth gap starts with education. 

[madmitch]

3 minutes ago, mike324 said:

That is false, tax avoidance is not the reason for increasing wealth gap. The problem with tax is just enforcement, when we have police and generals running the country for the past decades, it never turns out good. Thailands tax laws are good enough, individual tax rate is pretty high (of course not as high as of those in Europe).

 

 The problem with increasing wealth gap is because the government has not reform the education for over 20 years. Each government thinks buying pc tablets, or throwing equipment at schools will make students smarter. The solution to decrease the wealth gap starts with education. 

But in Europe you can't take a present to the taxman and in return get a handsome reduction on your tax bill.

 

 

[garzhe]

19 hours ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

No surprises there. The Government always denies any report that shows Thailand in a bad light. In this case, they obviously don't want Joe Public to know that despite all their efforts, those at the top are taking more and more of the pie. Personally, I believe Credit Suisse over the Junta every time.

Probably a lot worse. Shows disparity in earnings. Im sure they never took in to account the brown envelopes.

[LivinLOS]

2 hours ago, bowerboy said:

 I completely agree in principle with the point you are making but unfortunately here in a Thailand a huge chunk of that money is stolen to line the elites and military pockets.

 

i definitely agree with you but in Thailand I would have no issue with anyone not wanting to pay taxes under the circumstances 

So how is a society to fund schools, hospitals, road, infrastructure, development, etc ??

 

Everyone expects these things, complains about them, but god forbid theres the hint that someone earning 5x minimum wage / national average should have even pay and process VAT on sales !! 

[Srikcir]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

By using the World Bank Gini index - a measurement that represents the income or wealth distribution of a nation's residents - Thailand's income gap has narrowed over the last 10 years, as the Gini coefficient dropped to 0.453 last year from 0.499 in 2007. 

Gini coefficients:

https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/wealth-distribution-income-inequality

2018 Inclusive Development Index Thailand ranks 17th as an Emerging Economy but slowing receding.

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Forum_IncGrwth_2018.pdf

 

[Jonmarleesco]

'Government dismisses Credit Suisse Wealth Report about Thailand’s wealth gap as unreliable'

 

Well it would, wouldn't it? 

[Jonmarleesco]

1 hour ago, garzhe said:

Im sure they never took in to account the brown envelopes.

Oh, they probably did. Just not the number. 

[guest879]

hub of..............

[balo]

Maybe they can turn this into something positive , we are number 1  ! 

TAT is on the case. 

[hotchilli]

To be honest the rich probably don't disclose a high percentage of their wealth, either it's in an off-shore bank or in cash under the bed, paying only a minor sum to the government.

The poorer end don't pay tax either, working for cash in-hand no-one knows what they earn !!

If it wasn't for the door to door collectors no tax would end up in government hands... only VAT payments.

How can you reform a tax system that's non existent !

[madmitch]

7 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

To be honest the rich probably don't disclose a high percentage of their wealth, either it's in an off-shore bank or in cash under the bed, paying only a minor sum to the government.

The poorer end don't pay tax either, working for cash in-hand no-one knows what they earn !!

If it wasn't for the door to door collectors no tax would end up in government hands... only VAT payments.

How can you reform a tax system that's non existent !

I'm pretty sure that this is the reason why tax on luxury goods, especially cars, is so hefty; it's one of the few ways of getting the rich to pay tax.

[Mainhattencitizen]

21 hours ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

No surprises there. The Government always denies any report that shows Thailand in a bad light. In this case, they obviously don't want Joe Public to know that despite all their efforts, those at the top are taking more and more of the pie. Personally, I believe Credit Suisse over the Junta every time.

I would believe the Devil over the Junta

[nasa123]

There is one thing they can`t row away, and it is that this Government has borrowed  816,808,123 USD since 2014 from Retirement Fund "My money" in Norway. Loans for 2018 comes on the list in January 2019.

https://www.nbim.no/en/the-fund/holdings/holdings-as-31.12.2016/?fullsize=true

 

[PatOngo]

The wealth gap......some drive a pink Bentley while some catch the bus!

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, guest879 said:

hub of..............

Denial!

[sawadee1947]

Congrats. Another hub! 

[mindfulness]

Unfortunately some folk are that deeply conditioned by government ‘aka’ statists that they accept what their government infoms them of. 

 

Saddening lives of such suffering. 

[Zack61]

22 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

And did anyone really expect anything different out of the Thai government?  

No. 

[thailand49]

You can't expect these legal crooks to stand by and say nothing! What do people expect the have's to do but denied the report just like they continue to deny they are #1 deaths on the road.

Then distant grows larger each day as they got the people thinking if they built more roads to bring in the tourist it will benefit them greatly.

[RichardColeman]

Funny how the government accept the positive reports and dish the negative ones !

[dinsdale]

This time I have to agree with the Thai statement just like I agree they're not manipulating the baht.

[connda]

Number One Most Dangerous Roads in the World and Number One Largest Wealth Gap Between Rich and Poor in the World.  Kudos Thailand!
The government should be arranging a day of celebration as Thailand is Number One In the World once again!!!

[shaurene]

On 7 December 2018 at 4:18 PM, Eric Loh said:

Total agreement with you. The tax reform must include more forceful enforcement and bigger fines for offenders. 

Ye, the fines come in brown envelopes.

[HalfLight]

On 12/7/2018 at 3:30 PM, ThreeEyedRaven said:

No surprises there. The Government always denies any report that shows Thailand in a bad light. In this case, they obviously don't want Joe Public to know that despite all their efforts, those at the top are taking more and more of the pie. Personally, I believe Credit Suisse over the Junta every time.

Fully agree with all of this. If the numbers are wrong, Thailand could provide correct numbers and everyone would benefit, however that's not to objective; the exercise is not to be specific. Keep it vague so people can't pin you down. The liar's charter.

 

 

[trainman34014]

The things that are 'Unreliable' are the things that come out of the mouths of any Government Official in Thailand.   After all; they are taught to lie about just about everything from the day they are born.  If you believe a word they say then you obviously believe there are Pixies at the bottom of your garden !

[Fex Bluse]

Not surprising. Many people have said Thailand has alot in common with how they would expect North Korea to be. 

 

It's one reason why the Thai-Chinese aggressively protect Thailand from outsiders. They have a perfect system of dominating this country of low average IQ and a docile population of brown people happy to mimick their Thai-Chinese masters. 

 

Would any of us give up such a dominating position??? 

 

 

[sirineou]

7 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

Not surprising. Many people have said Thailand has alot in common with how they would expect North Korea to be. 

 Really? many people equate Thailand with NK. Can you quote some of them?

7 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

They have a perfect system of dominating this country of low average IQ and a docile population of brown people happy to mimick their Thai-Chinese masters. 

 Probably why it also attracts so many  pasty white  "low average IQ" expats   

[HalfLight]

36 minutes ago, sirineou said:

 Really? many people equate Thailand with NK. Can you quote some of them?

 Probably why it also attracts so many  pasty white  "low average IQ" expats   

*sigh*

 

 

[djayz]

On 12/7/2018 at 3:25 PM, webfact said:

“inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable”

I wouldn't describe the Swiss as being any of the above... Let me think, who do those adjectives best describe...? ????

[sjaak327]

On 12/7/2018 at 9:37 AM, webfact said:

NESDB denies Thailand has biggest income gap in world

By The Nation

 

Thailand's national economic planning agency has denied that the country is the most unequal in the world but admits that the income gap remains a challenging issue

 

The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) said on Friday that the gap between rich and poor in the country has narrowed in the past decade but is still a problem.

 

The NESDB said that a social media report ranking Thailand as the most unequal country globally was misleading. 

 

By using the World Bank Gini index - a measurement that represents the income or wealth distribution of a nation's residents - Thailand's income gap has narrowed over the last 10 years, as the Gini coefficient dropped to 0.453 last year from 0.499 in 2007. 

 

The NESDB said that Thailand's ranking was up from 46th place among 73 countries in 2013 to 40th place among 67 countries in 2015. 

 

The state think-tank stated that the Thai government has given priority to the issue to achieve equal income distribution.

 

The government plans to reduce the income gap among the top 10 per cent of the richest members of the population and the 10 per cent of the poorest to 15 times by 2037, down from 22 times currently.

 

The government aims to bring down the Gini coefficient, to 0.36 by 2037 from 0.453 in 2017, it added

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30359990

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-07

Wait, how can the government make this claim ? Duing the first four years of their tenure, the income gap has increased, and this report is not the only one claiming that, but more to the point, the government's term ends next year, or have we not been told the whole story ?