Finance permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit has voiced his support for the negative income tax (NIT) scheme, which would provide welfare payments to workers, also known as workfare, when their income falls below a specified threshold.
Mr Lavaron said the NIT concept would stimulate people to work in exchange for receiving welfare payments from the state if they earn a low level of income. For workers earning less than the minimum threshold, the state would provide a subsidy to cover the difference between the person's income and the threshold.
For the unemployed, the state might provide some form of support, but it would likely be less than the amount for those who are employed, he said.
"The NIT concept is not welfare but workfare, meaning you have to work to receive higher benefits from the government," said Mr Lavaron.
He said he believes implementing an NIT scheme could reduce the state's welfare expenses and eliminate redundancy in state benefits, which currently comprise about 20 welfare programmes, such as the state welfare card, which costs up to 50 billion baht per year.
The NIT scheme would require individuals seeking workfare to submit their annual personal income tax forms to the Revenue Department to verify their income eligibility for state support.
When a recipient's income increases, the state incentivises them by providing additional support, a stage known as "phase in".
Once a person's income reaches a certain level, the state's support rate will become constant. If the individual's income surpasses the minimum threshold, the state will stop providing support.
This concept was proposed by the Fiscal Policy Office a decade ago.
NIT requires people to work and be part of the tax system, in contrast with welfare, where individuals may not work, but can still receive state benefits.
According to Mr Lavaron, government expenditure on items that are difficult to cut has been rising steadily. In fiscal 2023, expenditures deemed "hard to reduce" totalled 2.13 trillion baht, accounting for 67.2% of the government's budget, up from 65.8% in fiscal 2022. The increase was attributed to spending on debt repayment and commitments, as well as rising welfare expenses for public personnel and elderly citizens.
The proportion of spending on salaries, contributions and compensation for public personnel decreased from 26.2% of the budget in fiscal 2022 to 25.7% in 2023.