Abhisit ran out of time on land-tax reform

Apparently, Robin Grant doesn’t make distinctions when it comes to vested property interests opposed to land-tax reform. He reprimanded me for selectively criticising Yingluck’s Cabinet and not that of Abhisit.
In light of the fondness of ministers and members of Parliament for property ownership so excellently presented by The Nation, credit is due the members of the Abhisit Cabinet for not turning down draft reforms spearheaded by former finance minister Korn Chartikavanij (also a substantial land owner). If they had been implemented, they would have pleased Scottish father of economics Adam Smith in their simplicity and fairness. Unfortunately, because the then Parliament had to be dissolved for political reasons, the draft had to be shelved “temporarily”. Its demise was certainly not caused by pressure from the vested interests in Abhisit’s Cabinet, as Mr Grant cynically assumes, but by its shortened tenure. In the election campaign, Khun Korn and his colleagues did loudly declare their intention to reintroduce the plan if re-elected. Fortunately or unfortunately, the rest is now history.
Prompted by the wealth report and without partisanship, I wrote in the hope that another camp would propose something similar, thereby finally replacing the 80-year-old household and land tax, which is so opaque it would have made Adam Smith weep.
Songdej Praditsmanont