Long wait for the property tax bill

Not long after the May 2014 coup, the National Council for Peace and Order-backed 
government began legislative work on a land and buildings tax bill. Proponents said the bill would boost the tax-revenue share of local 
government entities while reducing their fiscal dependence on the 
central government. It would also, they said, make the tax liability on landlords and use of commercial and other buildings fairer.
In addition, the bill is aimed at encouraging landowners to make use their property, since unused plots will be taxable at a progressive rate for the first time. This will serve as a boon to the economy in the long run as far as land resources are concerned. Overall, the bill will help redistribute wealth by expanding this source of tax income for both the central government and local government as tax collectors strive to cover rising state expenditures amid revenue shortfalls.
However, challenges abound, with at least two postponements of the proposed law’s enforcement date. The law was supposed to be enforced at the start of 2018. Then this was moved to the start of 2019. Members of the National Legislative Assembly have yet to enact the bill into law.
Early this year, Deputy Finance Minister Wisut Srisuphun, chairman of the NLA committee vetting the draft land and buildings tax bill, said the assembly should be able to deliberate the matter and give the bill its second and final readings by about May. That “deadline” too came and went.
Wisut had suggested more time was needed to study the details of the proposed law. He was mainly concerned with the tax liability of land parcels in areas where land use is restricted or development is not
 permitted, such as near airports and railroads, schools and universities, and sport stadiums and other similar locations. To ease the landlords’ liability, a 90-per-cent reduction of the tax rate was under consideration.
In principle, the bill remains unchanged, as approved in the first reading by NLA members, but the committee wants to adjust downwards the tax ceiling and effective rates on various kinds of land and buildings.
Now that the May timeline has passed, it’s been reported that the bill is still not yet ready for second and final readings in the assembly. According to Wisut, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has expressed his wish that the NLA enact the bill into law during the tenure of this government, which passed the four-year mark last month.
However, the bill will drastically change the way land and building taxes are collected, and many people will be affected, so the vetting process is not yet finished addressing issues that might arise after the proposed law goes into effect. As chairman of the NLA committee on the bill, Wisut has been adamant it will be enforced beginning next January 1, as announced earlier, and that the NLA panel will finish its work by the end of July.
Critics may wonder why the bill has been moving so slowly through the NLA. One probable cause is that the 247 members of the assembly collectively possess Bt9.8 billion worth of land, according to their declarations of assets. The organisation Land Watch Thai claimed the NLA member with the most land has property worth Bt1.19 billion, while the average is Bt42 million.
In other words, the lawmakers – like businesses with large land holdings – will be less than enthusiastic in their support for this legislation.