Taxmen behind target for first two months

PHUKET: Two months into the tax year, the Phuket Provincial Revenue Office has reported that revenue collected is already behind budget, and down by 13% from the same period of the 1998/1999 tax year. Officials reported that tax collected had fallen from 350.3 million baht in October and November 1998 to 305.4 million baht in the same period of 1999. Much of the shortfall was due to a plunge in Personal Income Tax, which fell 37% from 120 million baht to 76 million. Juristic Income Tax – Thailand’s tax on business profits – jumped by 22% to 33 million baht, while collections of Specific Business Tax, which is levied on banks and financial institutions, rose by a third, from 15 million baht to 20 million. Value-Added Tax fell by 5%, from 158 million baht to 150 million, while stamp duties rose by 36%, from 4 million baht to 5.5 million. The tax men have budgeted revenue collections for the 1999/2000 tax year at 2.428 billion baht. In 1998/1999 they collected 2.3 billion baht, slightly more than the budget of 2.281 billion.