Put the money into public transport
The government's populist policies are old wine in a new bottle. And the ultimate aim is the same - to get the people addicted to debt accumulation, so much so that they will forever be dependent on the government to continue to dish out freebies and "res
Lowering the price of cars through tax rebates for first-time buyers is not essential and should not have been made a priority. The mechanism to govern any abuse in this scheme has not even been made clear. People should be encouraged to use public transport instead. Public funds should be channelled to transport infrastructure projects with the aim of reducing the cost of public transit.
Tax deductions for first-time homebuyers is another example. There was no need for this government to launch this project while there is an existing one under the zero-per-cent interest rate mortgage scheme for first-time buyers implemented by the previous government. Is the new government simply trying to go "one up" against the previous government or replace and bury some of the good schemes with their own?
More educated people will be able to see through these soon-to-be implemented schemes as gimmicks. Amongst them, the issuance of credit cards to farmers and motorcycle-taxi drivers. All these actions, like those of the government in the past, will have the same ultimate ill effect of debt accumulation for people who have the least capacity to repay.
Policies to teach people to fish rather than giving them fish should be carried out. Otherwise, the poor will remain poor and will continue to be caught in the never-ending cycle of debt and creating more debt.
CY Tai
Bangkok
