The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will seek to amend the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Act of 1985 so it can generate more income to meet its target of 80 billion baht in tax revenues in the current fiscal year, governor Chadchart Sittipunt said yesterday.
Speaking after chairing a meeting of City Hall administrators, he said the BMA wanted to collect its own taxes on tobacco and hotel stay sales, but is legally prevented from doing so.
The BMA Act of 1985 must be amended to empower the administration to collect such revenues, the governor said, adding a bill to this end would be drafted and forwarded to the Interior Ministry and the cabinet for consideration.
The process will be complicated and time-consuming as related laws must be taken into consideration, Mr Chadchart said.
The governor admitted he had mistakenly thought it was within City Hall's power to generate revenue from the collection of taxes on tobacco and hotel stays.
City Hall was previously able to generate considerable revenue from taxing buildings and land. But a new law revises the system of calculating such taxes, causing a decline in revenue.
Another way for the BMA to boost its income is by improving its database concerning local taxes, Mr Chadchart said. These include taxes on land, buildings and commercial signs.
The BMA is empowered to collect taxes on land and buildings, commercial signs, and petrol stations. Together with related fines and the fees from issuing various permits, the governor said this amounts to between 10 billion and 20 billion baht per year. Additional revenues come from value-added tax, excise tax and taxes collected for the BMA by other government agencies.
Since the BMA has targeted taxes of 80 billion baht this fiscal year, it is cracking down on firms that damage the environment via the "polluter pay principle".
Mr Chadchart said the BMA was also eyeing car-parking fees. The Traffic and Transport Department will conduct a feasibility study to see if this can be added to the draft bill seeking to amend the BMA Act, he added.