VAT to be maintained: Sommai
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Finance Minister Sommai Phasee announced Wednesday that the value-added tax would not be raised within a year from now.
He said that in the next few weeks, he would inform the Cabinet the decision to maintain VAT at 7 per cent. He added that the decision on VAT hike would be considered on an annual basis.
The increase of VAT by 1 percentage point will immediatelly raise the government revenue by Bt80 billion a month, he said.
The Finance Ministry is now restructuring the tax system, with the aim to boost tax income from 17 per cent of gross domestic product to 20 per cent. The land and building bill is also expected to be enforced within this year.
Sommai said that Thailand should run budget deficits until 2017.
He noted that he would not seek the prime minister's extra power under the Article 44 to support any economic policies, except the government lottery pricing.
He said he told the prime minister that economic policies demand good governance.
