Abhisit became the PM that introduce/approved the land/property tax law!

[WorldFun]

This is pretty amazing especially the timing for such groundbreaking tax intro amid a near civil war so would anybody actually notice it or care especially the sceptics who keep insisting he's working for the elite ONLY (well they all are just a matter of which of the elites!)?

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/175251/cabinet-approves-land-and-building-tax-law

 

"Cabinet approves land, building tax law

 

* Published: 20/04/2010 at 03:57 PM

* Online news: Economics

 

The cabinet has agreed in principle to the land and building tax bill proposed by the Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Tuesday.

 

“Main objective of this law is to ensure justice in society in terms of land ownership distribution.

 

"In addition, it will lead to the development of unused land and an increase in income for local administration organisations, not the central government,†Mr Abhisit said.

 

The Office of the Council of State will be responsible for the details of the proposed law, while public hearings on each issue will be held simultaneously.

 

The premier said there will be tax exemption for farmers who use their own lands to their own food, rice or other cash crops or for building ordinary homes.

 

More importantly, the income derived from land and building tax will be use for the setting up of a “land bank fund†which will be a channel for the government to provide fields to landless farmers.

 

He said the imposition of a land and building tax to improve social justice is a main policy of the government and the approval of the draft law is another step toward it."

[KimDidMeGood]

Timing is everything...

[Flashermac]

Didn't it get voted on when the Takkyites were boycotting parliament?

 

Coincidentally, the Shinatra clan are major land owners up north.

 

 

 

 

[waerth]

What is wrong with the law. It is a very normal law in many countries. If you want good infrastructure, free healthcare, free schools etc etc. then someone needs to pay for it. And that is why there are taxes.

 

W

[cavanami]

...unless you have a booming tourist industry, good export business, investments coming into the country, etc.

Say 60% of the LOS people are too poor to pay taxes, then you need to either reduce benefits or tax the rich.

[Nervous God]

It's not law yet, even without the drama's I doubt it would make it into law sadly.

 

It's a sensible law, sadly, not one I expect to see ever introduced.

[Pom Michael]

Interesting to see if this actually sticks. This would be a major shift in land use and in my opinion a very positive event for the country.

 

Didn't the Dems try something similar before the Phuket Land Scandal forced them out of office in the late '90's?

 

Are there any countries with alternative land ownership schemes (besides full ownership for life, and no private ownership)?

 

Something like generation ownership (you buy for 30 years) or 99 year ownership. The land is priced accordingly - and at the end of the time, the land reverts back to the state/kingdom and is sold again to the highest bidder.

 

All land that is privately held now reverts to automatic 99 year leases. Land then sold by the owner can be sold only for 30 year generation lease.

 

New land sold by the state can be bought for 30 years or 99 years (with a price difference to match).

 

No one loses out (original owner who bought for 99 years sure isn't going to be around).

 

Someone could figure out the relevant price difference - would I spend 1 million baht for 1 unit of land for 30 years, or 2.5 million baht for the same land for 99 years?

 

At the end of the day (years from now) - the state gains.

 

Seemed to have worked ok for China/Hong Kong?

 

Discuss (in the context of Thailand and this new land/property tax).

[Nervous God]

Ghana has no private land now, in the sense of being able to sell. All land is either in the family for perpetuity, or lease from government.

[KimDidMeGood]

I fail to see what's so groundbreaking with a land tax?

What social justice? The middle class people who own land on which they have their house will pay more taxes, and their overall rate of taxation will be increasing substantially.

The implied theory that it is necessary in order to build a "land bank fund" is BS; this can be done by modifying budget allocations or adequately increasing the already existing taxes (income/VAT).

I'm not really fond of taxing property rights, except maybe for cars but in this case, only because the ownership of the car implies usage of government infrastructure (roads). Otherwise it sounds like a very archaic approach of taxation.

[shygye]

... the land tax is a good way for the rich to force the sale of land held by low income folks.