CityNews – If you went out on the town this weekend and noticed a little bit of a bigger dent in your wallet it might be because on Friday, March 29, a 2% increase on the excise tax for alcohol and cigarettes went into affect.
This tax increase will go towards funding the recently enacted ‘Sports Act’ and is projected to gross 3 billion baht per year. The act sets out to give the Sports Authority of Thailand more power, increase presidential terms for sports associations from 2 to 4 years, and provide more support for athletes, coaches, and officials.
According to the Finance Ministry, the Excise Department collected approximately 200 billion baht last year.
From these taxes collected about 3 billion baht went towards the Thai Health Promotion Fund and about 2 billion baht went towards the Thai Public Broadcasting Services.
Producers have accounted for this tax increase with an increase in retail prices for consumers that comes out to about a .8-1 baht increase on a 30-40 baht pack of cigarettes; about a 1-1.20 baht increase on a 50-60 baht beer; and a 2 baht increase on a 100 baht bottle of liquor.