The Revenue Department rejects claims that it is planning to impose a 1,000-baht departure tax on departing Thais and foreign residents.
Responding to fears raised on social media, the department says it is legally obliged by the constitution to seek the public’s opinion on executive decrees scrapped by past administrations.
Winit: ‘Survey was just a formality’
Winit Wisetsuwannaphum, the department’s deputy director-general, yesterday stressed the government has no plans to reinstate the 1,000-baht departure tax for Thais and the 500-baht tax for those leaving by land or sea, which was established by executive decree back in 1983.
Although the departure tax had already been scrapped in 1991, the constitution requires the department to assess the suitability of old executive decrees. The department conducted the survey on the tax on its website www.rd.go.th from May 3 to 17, he said. Some saw it and panicked, thinking it was coming back.
By the end of next year the department will also have conducted similar surveys on laws concerning inheritance tax and petroleum income tax, Mr Winit said.