Arkhom targets balanced budget with tax reforms

The Finance Ministry aims to achieve a balanced budget in a decade by improving its tax collection efficiency and expanding the tax base, says Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

He said the government could expand the tax base under the current structure and would continue to cut unnecessary expenditure.

The number of personal income tax returns and the size of the payments declined during the pandemic, but last year they both bounced back to almost the same levels of 2019.

Filers of personal income tax in 2019 tallied 11.8 million, with 4 million required to pay tax. Filers totalled 10.6 million and 10.3 million in 2020 and 2021, respectively, of which 3.95 million and 4.17 million were required to pay tax.

Roughly 11.3 million people are expected to file tax returns for the 2022 tax year, said Mr Arkhom.

He said government revenue collection in fiscal 2024 is projected to exceed the 2.75-trillion-baht target by around 200 billion baht.

Half of the revenue surplus should help reduce the budget deficit to 593 billion baht, with the other half added to the expenditure budget in fiscal 2024.

Regarding a political party’s election pledge to make monthly incomes of less than 40,000 baht tax-free, Mr Arkhom said the government would first need to find new income sources to make such a proposal possible as there are still many state spending commitments.

People with a monthly income lower than 26,000 baht are not currently subject to taxes.

In a separate matter, the cabinet yesterday approved an increase in the government’s National Savings Fund contributions to a maximum of 1,800 baht per year for members all ages.

For members aged between 15-30, the government pledges to pay 50% of their contributions, up to 1,800 baht per year.

The government’s current contributions to the fund depend on members’ ages. For example, for members aged 15-30, the government pays 50% of their contribution, up to 600 baht per year.

For members aged between 50-60, the government matches 100% of their contribution, with a maximum of 1,200 baht per year.