BANGKOK, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Monday that his cabinet team has approved tax incentives to boost domestic consumption in a grim economy gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We need to boost domestic spending to revive a struggling economy," said Prayut at the Government House. "Therefore a tax break is a quick answer for now so that Thais will have deeper pockets for spending."
The government will offer a tax deduction of up to 30,000 baht (962 U.S. dollars) on purchases of goods and services from October to December, said Prayut, adding that the tax break scheme will hopefully inject 120 billion baht (3.85 billion U.S. dollars) into the Thai economy.
Meanwhile the Center for Economic Situation Administration said about 4 million Thais are expected to take advantage of the tax break program.
The center said the tax break will cost the state about 12 billion baht (385 million U.S. dollars) in missing tax revenue.
All types of products and services with VAT would be included into the tax deduction program, except for alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, government lotteries, fuel, accommodation services and air tickets, Prayut said.
Earlier, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) revised its GDP projection from minus 8.1 percent to minus 7.8 percent. Enditem
