The private sector has proposed the government to put off the new land and buildings tax act for a year, citing the current economic environments are not yet proper to start a collection in August this year as scheduled.
Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), after yesterday's second meeting of the Advisory Committee to Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, said the new land and buildings tax needs to be postponed now that the public and businesses are no longer in a position to pay the tax because of the drastic impact of the pandemic.
The new land and buildings tax took effect at the start of this year and was scheduled to start collection in April, but the government decided to delay enforcement until August to give local authorities and taxpayers more time to prepare.
The tax applies to residences, farmland, commercial areas and undeveloped land. The rates vary depending on how the property is used.
The new structure sees land and buildings used for residences with appraisal prices of up to 50 million baht are exempt for principal homes, while those valued at more than 50-75 million baht are taxed at 0.03% of appraisal prices, more than 75-100 million baht at 0.05% and more than 100 million baht at 0.1%.
Those who only own houses, but not land, qualify for a tax exemption for the first 10 million baht of their houses' appraisal prices.
Residences with an appraised value of more than 10-50 million baht are charged 0.02%, more than 50-75 million baht at 0.03%, more than 75-100 million baht at 0.05%, and more than 100 million baht at 0.1%.
If owners have more than one home, the second and subsequent residences are subject to a 0.02% tax for those with an appraisal price of up to 50 million baht, and the same tax rate as principal homes is applied for those with appraisal prices above 50 million baht.
Mr Supant also forwarded additional proposals including a suspension of contributions to the provident fund for three months for both employers and employees; a reduction of withholding tax to 1% from 1.5%; and a suspension of corporate income tax for three years (from 2020 to 2022) for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Prapat Panyachatraksa, chairman of the National Farmers Council, also called on the government to establish a 50-billion-baht restructuring fund.