Firms to get tax cuts for forest fire donations

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is looking for the private sector’s support in trade for their help in offering a profitable offer of reduced taxes in exchange for financial support of the ministry’s forest fire operation.

Private companies were recently contacted by the ministry and the Board of Investment of Thailand ( BoI ), who were requesting information on the ministry’s project to stop forest fires, which are a major contributor to haze pollution.

By providing monetary assistance to the Department of Forest and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in their efforts to stop forest fires, the job will enable businesses to help reduce the heat pollution brought on by PM2.5 fine sand.

Jatuporn Buruspat, the agency’s continuous director, said the state is serious about this topic, but due to a very limited budget, it needs help from the private market.

Any business that contributes money to the stop wildfires project will receive tax incentives from the ministry and the BoI, he said.

According to Mr. Jatuporn, businesses can donate anywhere between 500, 000 and 5 million baht annually between Jan. 1 and April 30 to help clean the air.

He noted that they will be able to reduce their tax liability by up to 20 % if they donate money to the project.

According to Mr. Jatuporn, that money will be used to set up forest fire monitoring points, purchase of fire-fighting equipment, and provide training for firefighters. ” We anticipate that the project will have fruit in the coming three years.”

” We have made strong efforts to stop hotspots in the country by dealing with the PM2.5 pollution. However, because we still have issues with haze from hotspots in neighboring countries, it is not actually the best result, he said. ” At least we try our best to prevent air pollution in our own territory.”

He claimed that the provinces of Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai still have the highest concentration of haze pollution.

The ministry is working to reduce these before next month’s Songkran festival.

Suthiket Thatpitak- Kul, the BoI’s deputy secretary- general, said the BoI has a clear policy to support investment for a better and cleaner environment. It provided a special tax incentive in 2007 for business owners who needed to invest in cleaner technology to address the Rayong province pollution problem.