Taxing for nature
Re: "BMA to levy land taxes in full," (BP, Aug 8).
The BMA plans to fully collect land tax on undeveloped land in the city used for "agricultural" purposes. I would like to propose introducing a "re-wilding" land tax incentive, to encourage landowners to leave their land untouched.
We all know Bangkok is sorely lacking in green space, and even if these re-wilded plots are behind walls, their benefits will be felt by all. Rather than encouraging landowners to pave over their plots with new developments, or chop down growth to plant a row of banana trees, let's encourage more greenery through tax incentives.
Diane Archer
Quick check fears
Re: "Burning questions," (PostBag, Aug 10).
Burin Kantabutra praises the BMA for inspecting 400 entertainment venues over the weekend, but does question whether those allowed to stay open are fully compliant with all regulations. I suspect not.
Assuming the BMA has, say, 10 qualified building inspectors who have been sitting around all this time twiddling their thumbs, each would have had to check 40 venues in two or three days.
Unless a significant number of those could produce recent certificates of compliance, any halfway decent check of electrics and emergency systems would have to take at least an hour each. Those guys were certainly going some if they did anything like a meaningful inspection of that number of premises.
Ray Ban
Monkey business
Re: "Monkeypox immunity tests to begin," (BP, Aug 9).
The Department of Medical Science is culturing strains of the monkeypox virus. Would this culturing be occurring in a BSL level 4 lab as required under strict biosafety and international treaty obligations?
Are the current strains which were genetically altered for gain of function purposes in the Wuhan Institute of Virology? And since such research has already been done in numerous other locations, why is Thailand again reinventing the wheel? What reward could possibly be gained at such high risk?
Michael Setter
Praising loyalty
Re: "Tiger 'rejected $700-800m'", (Sport, Aug 3).
His rejection of an offer of nearly US$1 billion to appear in the LIV Golf series, a breakaway and rival circuit to the PGA Tour, is most heartening. If he had accepted the offer, that would have doubled his present net worth of Forbes' estimation of $1 billion.
It is even more heartwarming that he is being loyal to the longstanding PGA Tour and viewing others who have gone to the LIV as having "turned their backs on what [the PGA Tour] has allowed them to get to their position."
I always love a man with principle and loyalty.
Songdej Praditsmanont
See the big picture
Re: "Harm's way," (PostBag, Aug 8).
Mr King Miro, while you are so concerned about Ukrainian civilians and how Ukrainians pay back the money they spend on their defence, why don't you ask the Russians to stop a war that nobody wants, except Putin and possibly people like you?
There are rules even for defending armies this is true, but remind yourself to mention that there wouldn't be any fatalities at all if Russia hadn't set out to destroy a whole country. This is the most barbaric thing of all.
Alexandra
