Thailand aims to broaden its tax base and promote incentives for long-term savings

The Deputy Minister of Finance announced plans to expand the tax base and encourage long-term savings instead of increasing tax rates. Initiatives include boosting the budget for the second half of 2024 and 2025, as well as implementing the Digital Wallet Stipend policy to stimulate the economy.

Key Takeaways

• The Thai Ministry of Finance plans to expand the tax base and encourage long-term savings to boost the country’s GDP in the second half of 2024 and 2025.
• The government aims to stimulate the economy with significant funding from the 2024 and 2025 budgets, as well as a 500 billion baht Digital Wallet Stipend, while ensuring clear funding sources for the project.
• Measures to incentivize long-term savings, provide loans to target industries, and improve capital access for small businesses and entrepreneurs are being proposed to enhance the economic situation without raising tax rates.

The government also aims to incentivize long-term savings and provide loans to specific industries. Measures will be taken to enhance capital access for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and the tax base will be expanded to increase state revenue without major impact on the public.

To improve capital access, the government will expand opportunities for small businesses, SMEs, and entrepreneurs to obtain funding by issuing an unlimited number of licenses for Virtual Banks. Furthermore, the conditions for establishing Pico Finance in rural areas will be revised to enhance funding accessibility and alleviate informal lending issues.