Phuket tax revenues continue to soar

PHUKET CITY: Taxes collected for fiscal year 2006 are predicted to total 5.2 billion baht, a 30% increase from last year, the Phuket Area Revenue Office (PARO) reported yesterday at Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura’s monthly meeting with Provincial Office Chiefs.

PARO Chief Pensri Passakul said that the taxes collected from October 2005 to the end of August 2006 totaled 4.8 billion baht, an increase of 29% over the same period last year, and a 19% increase from the pre-tsunami economy of 2004.

The remaining 400 million baht is expected to be raised during September, the last month of the annual fiscal cycle.

The highest single earner was company income tax, with 1.57 billion baht collected from October, 2005 to August, 2006. PARO collected 1.3 billion baht over the same period for fiscal 2005.

Supot Suwannachote, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO), reported that his agency has collected 1.014 billion baht in tax on land transactions, plus 330 million baht in associated fees.