Prasarn backs ‘Sara’ tax collection body
The government is being asked to set up a new independent tax collection body to ensure greater tax collection efficiency and increase revenue.
Prasarn Trairatvorakul, a former central bank governor and chairman of the government’s economic reform committee, said the government should establish a new independent tax administration unit known as the Semi-Autonomous Revenue Agency (Sara).
The new body may be upgraded to a state agency that handles revenue collection, he said.
Sara would be in charge of collecting all types of taxes without political interference.
The model is used by many developed, developing and underdeveloped countries, Mr Prasarn said.
A key principle of this model is the separation of tax policy and tax administration. The body should help professionalise tax administration. Countries adopting this model believe in the autonomy of tax agencies because they can assure taxpayers political interference will be kept to a minimum.
Under this model, a revenue agency will hold autonomous legal status without the direct supervision and control by the state. There may be a committee whose members are appointed by the state and private sectors to audit the agency.
The tax agency will also have its own budget that can be allocated from part of its revenue. This would make the agency financially independent, with the flexibility to attract high-calibre professionals by offering competitive salaries.
Mr Prasarn said the reform committee also proposed the government implement a progressive tax collection system and expand tax collection to cover assets.
The public should be involved in the reformation process because without public participation the government cannot achieve targets, he said.
In a related development, Finance Ministry spokeswoman Kulaya Tantitemit said the ministry is conducting a feasibility study to turn tax-collecting agencies into independent units to improve tax collection efficiency.
The top executives of these agencies would be selected from a talented pool of individuals that would be put in charge of steering the units towards income tax targets, she said.
However, state officials at the Finance Ministry and politicians will still have a mandate over setting tax policies.
The Finance Ministry decided to reintroduce the idea to spin off the tax-collecting agencies into independent units due to a radical change in factors affecting tax revenue collection, particularly in technology and increases in unregulated systems.
Ms Kulaya said clarity is necessary regarding whether the tax-collecting agencies will be truly independent units and how well they can perform as such.
An informed source at the Finance Ministry said that both the ministry’s state officials and politicians disagree with the proposal, as they want to continue supervising these agencies.
Mr Prasarn said the reform committee also proposed that the government establish an agency to handle income disparity and poverty.
He said many state agencies are tackling income disparity and implementing measures to assist low-income earners, including the Labour Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Finance Ministry.