Land fees generate B935m

PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO) has collected 935 million baht in taxes and fees this year, more than three times the amount collected last year.

The money was generated from purchases and sales of land, subdivisions of plots, and issuance of permits for development projects during the financial year from October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004.

PPLO Chief Suphot Suwannachote told the Gazette that one of the reasons for the increase between the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 fiscal years was that fees had been increased substantially, a result of the central government’s debt-restructuring policy.

In 2002-2003, he said, the land trading fee was 0.01% of the a value of the land bought or sold, whereas in 2003-2004, it was 2%.

Another factor had been the leap in the number of projects put before the PPLO, said K. Suphot. In 2003-2004, there were 51 development projects submitted for approval, compared with just 10 the previous year.

“Each project submitted in 2003-2004 involved up to 10 plots of land,” K. Suphot added.

He said 300 million baht of the 935 million baht collected would be passed on to the local administration organizations where the developments were taking place.

Of the remainder, 50 million baht was excise duty and three million baht will be sent to the national Land Department in Bangkok. The bulk of the funds – around 550 million baht – went to the Phuket Revenue Office, to be sent to the Finance Ministry in Bangkok.

K. Suphot predicted that the 2004-2005 fiscal year would also see a rise in revenues, as, just two months into the year, nine new development projects have already been submitted.