Easier rules hoped to draw merchants
Spending of cash rebates under the second phase of the Chim, Shop, Chai (taste, shop, spend) scheme is expected to accelerate after the Finance Ministry eased conditions to attract more merchants.
The tourist high season should also trigger a spending spree, said Lavaron Sangsnit, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office.
The Revenue Department’s reassurance that it will not use data from Taste, Shop, Spend to compute tax liability for participating shops should encourage more merchants to join the scheme, he said.
“In the second phase, we’ve improved some conditions for participating merchants to make it easier for people to spend the rebate. This includes allowing recipients to spend on all hotels or branches of participating hoteliers, or car and boat rental service providers,” said Mr Lavaron.
Conditions for modern trade remain in place as the government wants the scheme’s recipients to spend the money at community shops, he said.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved the second phase of the Taste, Shop, Spend’s cash handouts and cash rebates, which run until the end of the year, with 3 million more people set to benefit from it.
Under the second phase, participants will still enjoy the same 1,000baht cash handout as well a cash rebate of up to 20%.
About 10 million people who registered under the first phase, which kicked off on Sept 23 and offered a 15% rebate, are also entitled to the 20% rebate.
The initial quota of 500,000 registrants was met by 7.18am yesterday, after registration opened at 6am.
Registration for the second phase is still limited to 1 million people a day, but will be separated into two rounds, one beginning at 6am and one at 6pm.
“Even though the registration shows us interest remains strong, the 3-million recipient quota will be kept unchanged,” said Mr Lavaron.
He said the Finance Ministry urged the Interior Ministry to speed up the issuance of a ministerial announcement to slash mortgage and transfer fees to 0.01% as approved by the cabinet to prevent the purchase delay from taking a toll on the property sector.