No plan to hike VAT rate, says Somkid
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said on Friday that the proposal to increase value-added tax (VAT) was an old one and the public should not worry about it.
He was referring to the proposal by the National Legislative Assembly on Thursday to increase the VAT rate to 8 percent from 7 per cent.
“The tax hike must come at the right time and in the right economic conditions,” he said.
The Finance Ministry will look into it, he added.
The NLA has reasoned that raising the VAT by 1 percentage point would bring an additional Bt60 billion to Bt70 billion revenue, as the current government revenue cannot match rising annual expenditure, resulting in widening budget deficit.
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