Stop-Drink Network Thailand has slammed the cabinet's decision to radically lower taxes on wine and other alcoholic beverages in the name of tourism promotion, saying the government is trying to solve one problem by creating another.
The group was responding to the cabinet's decision on Tuesday, which cuts down the tariff on commercially imported wine from 100% to 5% and waives the 10% import tax on wine for non-commercial purposes.
The cabinet also decided to exempt the 10% sale tax on traditional alcoholic beverages containing no more than 7% alcohol, while cutting the 10% excise tax on entertainment venues to 5%. The government claimed the cuts were intended as New Year's gift for the people and for tourism promotion purposes.
Theera Watcharapranee, director of Stop-Drink Network Thailand, said the new tax breaks came as a shock to people fighting to curb alcohol consumption and its consequences.
Mr Theera said that instead of benefiting tourism and local alcoholic beverage makers as claimed, this U-turn in the government's alcohol taxation policy will actually benefit businesses making profits from importing and selling expensive bottles of wine.
Wine, which was once heavily taxed and considered a luxury product, has now become a common drink anyone can afford, he said. "Alcoholic beverages are addictive," he said. "They can cause problems and harm the country's public health."
Mr Theera added that, based on the evidence that every US$1 (34.67 baht) spent on alcohol consumption control yields up to $8 in economic values in return, the World Health Organization has recommended raising alcohol taxes as an effective means to lower consumption rates.
Mr Theera said that such a recommendation made sense because the government would gain more revenues from higher tax rates while its burden on the country's healthcare would lessen due to a drop in the number of patients with alcohol-related medical conditions.
But what the government is doing now is trying to have more revenue from tourism while ignoring the consequences of alcohol on public health, he said.
No details were immediately available on the healthcare cost of looking after such patients, or lost productivity caused by a spike in road accidents.
Teera: Short-sighted change
