Listed companies weigh delay to tax-cut plan
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The Thai Listed Companies Association (TLCA) will consider backing a proposal by the Joint Standing Committee that the government postpone the reduction in corporate tax planned for next year.
The committee, which consists of the Thai Bankers Association, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, agreed on the proposal at a special meeting on Thursday. The promised cut in corporate tax to 23 per cent would be postponed and the extra revenue allocated to a fund to relieve the burden of flood-affected small and medium-sized enterprises.
Chanin Vongkusolkit, TLCA chairman and chief executive officer of Banpu Plc, said the tax-cut postponement should provide about Bt70 billion for a fund to restore flood-hit businesses or for the country’s rehabilitation. This plan will be forwarded to the association for discussion.
Sompol Kiatphaibool, chairman of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said the executive committee on establishment of a Bt500-million “Capital Market Joins Hands for Flood Relief” fund met for the first time yesterday. So far, more than Bt400 million has been mobilised for the fund.
Next week, the association will ask listed companies that made donations to meet with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and inform her of the capital markets’ flood-relief measures.
These measures, which will be implemented today, will focus on flood victims who have no living places, food or other necessities. Next, relief measures will target other needy areas such as schools.
Proposals for relief measures for flood-hit listed companies will be forwarded to the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations (FeTCO), which in turn will propose them to the Joint Standing Committee.
