Local Government

[Tassie]

Today the local Amphur raided all houses in my village looking for small businesses (8 persons in the group).  They are also charging Baht for those who have signs displayed.  The larger the sign the more you pay.
Last year the Government swooped on all rice farmers who did not have chanote title to their rice farms, kicking them off without any compensation.  Hereditary title was recognised by an earlier version of the Thailand Constitution. My family can legally trace 150 years of continuous use of the 26 rai the government stole from them.  Because a government makes a law doesn?t mean it is lawful if it contradicts the constitution.  To change a constitution requires a national referendum which has never occurred in Thailand.  Bureaucrats and those in power disregard this legal process and make up the rules that suit themselves, never mind the people.
I think that there will be more problems for the future of Thailand.
Has anyone else been visited by their local Amphur?
Regards

[Starman]

Today the local Amphur raided all houses in my village looking for small businesses (8 persons in the group).  They are also charging Baht for those who have signs displayed.  The larger the sign the more you pay.
Last year the Government swooped on all rice farmers who did not have chanote title to their rice farms, kicking them off without any compensation.  Hereditary title was recognised by an earlier version of the Thailand Constitution. My family can legally trace 150 years of continuous use of the 26 rai the government stole from them.  Because a government makes a law doesn?t mean it is lawful if it contradicts the constitution.  To change a constitution requires a national referendum which has never occurred in Thailand.  Bureaucrats and those in power disregard this legal process and make up the rules that suit themselves, never mind the people.
I think that there will be more problems for the future of Thailand.
Has anyone else been visited by their local Amphur?
Regards

With regards to running a business from your home and having signs, there are laws in place and the officials appear to have been following the laws.

When my wife ran BuriramPieMan from our home she had to have a licence to run such a business and had to renew the licence each year, same with the  minimart run by her and our daughter. There was also a tax to pay for any signs that we had showing.

My wife has land that is registered to her with the land office, by way that she pays tax on the land each year, but there is no chanote. As tax has been paid the land cannot be taken away. The land office have said several times that they are in the process of issuing chanotes on many parcels of land in our area and will get it done eventually. Land cannot just be confiscated unless it was previously government property and has been encroached upon or if there is some dispute with regards to ownership. If there is reason for land to be confiscated, notice needs to be given.

I would be inclined to go and speak to the officials at the land office about your situation.  If your family can find receipts for tax paid, even better.

The lasted referendum and constitution change held in Thailand was in 2016

[Tassie]

With respect to your comments about the land, my family and hundreds of thousands of other poor rice farmers had their land stolen from them by the Government.  Nearly 2 years later all the promises to look into the matter have failed as they have been told by the Lands Department that there is no way of getting their land back. It is a done and dusted result win for the Government. You are dead wrong about the land cannot be confiscated if they have paid their taxes as it has been done.  You fail to mention hereditary tile as per a previous Constitution being ignored by the land grabbing government.  With no land to grow rice what will the people eat, dirt?
You might remember a recent previous government who bought the rice from poor farmers and promised to pay them.  It took over 2 years for the farmers to get their money.  In the meantime they starved.  Any attack on the poor is unconscionable.
Regards

[Freddy]

Interesting thread.i have no knowledge or input regarding the land issues however coincidentally I had dinner last night with 2 government officials who are involved with the collection of taxes for business signage. Had quite a long discussion regarding this.
One of my dinner companions stated that he alone collects 40-50 million baht a year in signage tax. That is in Buriram City. Know idea how many colleagues he has devoted to this task.

[Starman]

With respect to your comments about the land, my family and hundreds of thousands of other poor rice farmers had their land stolen from them by the Government.  Nearly 2 years later all the promises to look into the matter have failed as they have been told by the Lands Department that there is no way of getting their land back. It is a done and dusted result win for the Government. You are dead wrong about the land cannot be confiscated if they have paid their taxes as it has been done.  You fail to mention hereditary tile as per a previous Constitution being ignored by the land grabbing government.  With no land to grow rice what will the people eat, dirt?
You might remember a recent previous government who bought the rice from poor farmers and promised to pay them.  It took over 2 years for the farmers to get their money.  In the meantime they starved.  Any attack on the poor is unconscionable.
Regards

I am not disputing that some farmers may have had land confiscated. I am only saying that if they have correct tax receipts for the land then it should not happen. Any land grab that does happen should be disputed with the relevant government department

I don't recall seeing any headlines regarding this in your area. The numbers that you speak of eould/should have created major headlines in the news or/and on social media.

My father in law got paid from the rice mortgage scheme within 6 months.

[Tassie]

Starman, Where were you when all this went down?
In 2013 and 2014 , many rice farmers delivered their crops to the government, and were issued with pledging receipts, but they have not yet been paid, 2014.Media reports reveal there are more than one million such receipts awaiting payment. This problem has caused great hardship to several hundred thousand farmers, forcing them to turn to loan sharks. Paying off the 705 billion baht debt incurred by the Pheu Thai Party-led government's rice-pledging scheme will take around seven fiscal years if the governments pays a flat amount of 131.3 billion baht each year, the state-backed farm bank's chief says.
The verdict from the Supreme Court is out today on whether former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is guilty for her handling of the contentious rice-pledging scheme, one that officials say cost taxpayers more than 500 billion baht.
Mr Thirachai: In the absence of government intervention, the market automatically normalises. However, the plight of poor farmers remains. Farmers are forever in debt, with poor earnings and facing constant risk of losing their ancestral land.
My family lost their ancestral lands as did hundreds of thousands of other poor rice farmers.
Regards

[Starman]

I must have misunderstood. Sure I know about the problems involving the rice pledge scheme.

However, you said that thousands in your area had land stolen by the government. That was what I was referring to when I said there was not much news coverage.

From your latest post it seems that this in fact is connected to loans rather than a government scheme to claim untitled land.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Tassie]

Starman you are good at misunderstanding. I am looking at my posts on this subject and I cannot see where I said the disposition of land referred to Issan only. What part of losing their ancestral land do you not understand? May I suggest that you get your facts straight and stop making excuses for your lack of knowledge on this subject  Poor Thai rice farmers in their thousands have lost their ancestral land, that is a fact and nothing you can say on this forum will alter this fact.
Regards

[Starman]

Today the local Amphur raided all houses in my village looking for small businesses (8 persons in the group).  They are also charging Baht for those who have signs displayed.  The larger the sign the more you pay.
Last year the Government swooped on all rice farmers who did not have chanote title to their rice farms, kicking them off without any compensation.  Hereditary title was recognised by an earlier version of the Thailand Constitution. My family can legally trace 150 years of continuous use of the 26 rai the government stole from them

This is what I refer to

You mention your village and your family. No one or nowhere else is mentioned.

Those are your facts. The facts that I refer too.

[Tassie]

You just cannot help yourself.
Regards

[Gerry]

Tassie. To be fair, I have read and re read your first post several times and come to the same conclusion. It does imply that you are speaking about the area local to you and specific to your family's home village.

Maybe you wrote in a hurry or perhaps your mood when writing made you rush into what you were saying. Either way it does seem unclear that you were actually being specific to Thailand as a whole.

Even the title "local government" leads on to think of a location near to you.

[Tassie]

Thank you for your spin.
Regards

[Tassie]

Gerry and starman. Relating to my first post. if you look at my first paragraph I was indeed talking about the local amphur specifically their looking for businesses and signs. Are you still with me on this?
The second paragraph relates to Government.  Shall I have been more specific and listed the entire amphurs in Thailand about the land grab for your edification or do you think the use of the word Government would suffice?  All amphurs in Thailand are following the orders from the Government, sorry didn?t say local government for it is the LOCAL GOVERNMENT that is confiscating the land and may I add ancestral houses. 
Regards

[dimple joe]

Tassie, give it a rest for Christ's sake.
Accept that your original post was not clear.
Perhaps apologise to Starman who I say with confidence, knows more about Thailand than you ever will.

[Tassie]

Dimple joe,too bad your mentor who knows everything about Thailand didn?t know of the land grab
Regards