SignsI

[Tassie]

I was advised this morning that because I am using 3 English words in a Thai dominated word sign that I will be up for a surcharge of 20%, No opportunity is missed when it comes to Thais extracting as much from the expat community as possible.

[Starman]

I was advised this morning that because I am using 3 English words in a Thai dominated word sign that I will be up for a surcharge of 20%, No opportunity is missed when it comes to Thais extracting as much from the expat community as possible.

Not only expats. Thais have to pay the surcharge too.

[Smithy]

I was advised this morning that because I am using 3 English words in a Thai dominated word sign that I will be up for a surcharge of 20%, No opportunity is missed when it comes to Thais extracting as much from the expat community as possible.

When I had a Bar in Koh Samui many years ago I had to pay tax on my sign as it was in English ,even though it was in Thai as well .

Not only expats. Thais have to pay the surcharge too.

I also remember year ago Fishing in place in Loei . I had a hell of a job finding the place as the sign was written in only Thai . I asked the Owner why he didn't make an English sign to help none Thais or those that couldn't read Thai to find his Fishing Park , his reply was "he didn't want to pay the tax on the sign"

[Tassie]

I was advised this morning that because I am using 3 English words in a Thai dominated word sign that I will be up for a surcharge of 20%, No opportunity is missed when it comes to Thais extracting as much from the expat community as possible.

When I had a Bar in Koh Samui many years ago I had to pay tax on my sign as it was in English ,even though it was in Thai as well .

Not only expats. Thais have to pay the surcharge too.

Why should anyone have to pay a surcharge of 20% for the privilege of using English on any sign?  Perhaps we will one day have to pay a surcharge, in the Land of Smiles, for speaking English in public. What is the discriminatory logic for this?
Regards

[Smithy]

This explains it 

https://www.mazars.co.th/Home/Doing-Business-in-Thailand/Tax/Signboard-Tax-in-Thailand

[Tassie]

Thanks Smithy for the information but it doesn?t give the justification for squeezing more money out of persons using non Thai script on signs. Because a government makes a statute law doesn?t make it legal, if it is in contradiction of a country?s constitution or morally  non acceptable. I have no problem with paying tax on my sign but it reeks of price gauging by the authorities. The once Land of Smiles is slowly turning into some of the places we have come from. Over regulation will be cruel to Thailand and force many expats to look for a more user friendly and less expensive country to retire to.

[Smithy]

Thanks Smithy for the information but it doesn?t give the justification for squeezing more money out of persons using non Thai script on signs. Because a government makes a statute law doesn?t make it legal, if it is in contradiction of a country?s constitution or morally  non acceptable. I have no problem with paying tax on my sign but it reeks of price gauging by the authorities. The once Land of Smiles is slowly turning into some of the places we have come from. Over regulation will be cruel to Thailand and force many expats to look for a more user friendly and less expensive country to retire to.

In the scheme of things I'm sure paying a few extra baht for a sign is not big deal , well it wasn't for me . I'm sure signs in Chinese or even Sanskrit have to pay the extra and it's not just Germanic text that is targeted . Big International Companies have to follows Thailand laws as well.
Some expats have always have a problem with the way Thailand operates ,whether it's double pricing on park's and zoo's and other tourist attractions ,not being able to get a work permit for certain jobs or not being able to own land . All I know is , with Thailand and all it faults and flaws I'm much happier here that I was or would be back in the UK 

[Freddy]

All signs are taxed or supposed to be. I actually met and had dinner with the guy in charge of the Buriram sign taxing office. I forget the exact amount he told me is collected each month but it was in the millions.
He has a team who?s role it is to patrol the city, identify the untaxed advertising signs and collect or remove accordingly.

[Tassie]

Freddy I dont think anyone needs to avoid sign tax, but I repeat what is the justification for surcharging signs with some foreign script.
Regards

[Smithy]

but I repeat what is the justification for surcharging signs with some foreign script.
Regards

It because foreigners are richer than Thais and they can afford to pay more 

But there is no justification other than the fact that Thailand has not experienced the immigration and subsequent ?multi-culturalism? that Europe and the US has. In comparison, Thailand has very few foreigners, and trade laws and the buying of land and housing is still very restrictive for foreign nationals. I guess that Thailand's history of being a little ethnocentric and nationalistic has a something to do with it
Also you must remember that where most of us Expats come from we have been taught that discrimination is bad and now in most place in the west it is now illegal, so I can understand why you may feel a little peeved but I cant see anything changing here in Thailand in my lifetime so I tend to not worry about it !!

[Nobby]

Thanks Smithy for the information but it doesn?t give the justification for squeezing more money out of persons using non Thai script on signs. Because a government makes a statute law doesn?t make it legal, if it is in contradiction of a country?s constitution or morally  non acceptable. I have no problem with paying tax on my sign but it reeks of price gauging by the authorities. The once Land of Smiles is slowly turning into some of the places we have come from. Over regulation will be cruel to Thailand and force many expats to look for a more user friendly and less expensive country to retire to.

You would think that because the international language for business within ASEAN is English, that would make this outdated law redundant.

[BillH52]

but I repeat what is the justification for surcharging signs with some foreign script.
Regards

TiT and they make the rules. 

[Red 1]

It because foreigners are richer than Thais and they can afford to pay more!

That's not necessarily true. Certain expats in small villages in Buriram may be better off than most local villages. However as we all know there are a lot of very rich and super rich Thais and 99% of expats are nowhere near that well healed.

Just face it, most Thais and the Government just love ripping off foreigners its plain and simple. I believe Thailand has had its day, they will never see the number of European/Western Expats we saw in 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, what they will get now is Arabs, Africans, Indians and Chinese, their days of milking the Europeans are numbered.

I used to take the greed and corruption in my stride but now I just get tired of it. They would moan like crazy if they were overcharged in another country, half of them don't even want to pay tax when they go overseas.

I can remember Bkk in the days long before the subway and sky train and you would rarely see Russians, Africans and Arabs now they visit and live in dominant populations in small areas of the city. Lets hope the Thais give them their usual two tier system.   

[CO-CO]

Freddy I dont think anyone needs to avoid sign tax, but I repeat what is the justification for surcharging signs with some foreign script.
Regards

Oh, I don't know Tassie........ when I had Coffee Corner in Prakhonchai we were told that signs just in Thai carried the smallest tax, mixed Thai and English a bit higher and just English even higher. I cannot remember the exact rates (per square metre I think) but the Farang rate was double the Thai rate.

[Smithy]

I cannot remember the exact rates (per square metre I think) but the Farang rate was double the Thai rate.

I think you mean the Germanic text rate was double the Thai Script rate , whether the signs owner was either a Farang or Thai the same Thai Sign Tax Laws would apply whatever the signs owners nationality