Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the possible increase in property taxes for foreigners here in Thailand. As we have discussed in other videos, it should be noted, foreign nationals are restricted from owning land here in the Kingdom of Thailand. Land ownership is expressly prohibited from foreigners. Yes we have discussed in other videos, there are rare and very discrete exceptions for foreign nationals to own land, or foreign businesses I should say, or foreign entities if you will. That said, it has happened a handful of times since the law changed and again as we discussed in other videos, it requires the Minister of Interior's signature. It's a big deal, it really doesn't happen as a matter of course. It's an anomaly at best. So what we're dealing with on the ground as far as a foreigner wanting to own actual land, it's restricted, it's prohibited. 

Now it is possible for foreign nationals to own condos here in Thailand and condos can be a very good investment especially for those who want to live here because foreign nationals notwithstanding the restrictions on foreign land ownership, can own a condo outright. So they can have Fee Simple Absolute Title as we would call it in the American vernacular often referred to as Freehold Title I've heard from the Australian vernacular and what we call Chanote Title in Thailand; you have the actual Title Deed, you own the property and you own an undivided interest in the underlying common area property as well. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Khao Sod English, that is khaosodenglish.com, the article is titled: Expert Urges Government to Raise Tax for Foreign Condo Buyers. Quoting directly: "He proposed four types of property taxes on foreigners based on market transaction prices (rather than Government-assessed values) to raise revenue to boost the economy and increase funds for national development." One thing, I always find this stuff kind of funny - "taxes based on foreigners based on market transaction prices rather than government assessed values." Well so the government assesses you, but that's not good enough. We want more tax so we're just going to go out and re-assess. You have to watch it with tax people. It can become very galling.

Meanwhile, the notion that taxing boosts the economy is very nonsensical to me and only an "expert" who basically came from a bureaucratic or governmental background in my mind, is going to view that, and again I'm not saying anything one way or the other. But that just is a very sort of Government-centric view of the economy. Anybody who has ever operated in the private sector knows, look increase of taxes isn't boosting anything. It may boost revenue for the Government, sure, because they're taking it off of people, but you're taking resources and capital out of the productively working economy and putting it over into something that quite honestly could be described as less than optimally productive. That being said, quoting further: "Property tax: With a rate of 1% or 10,000 baht per million baht." This would be on top of other proposed taxes that could come into effect regarding foreigners here in Thailand. Now it's worth noting, and it needs to be reiterated or at least sort of brought out, put a fine point on it, this is a proposal, they are not doing this. So understand the Government comes out all the time and officials will say "well we ought to do this and we ought to do that" and then the media runs out and they kind of fan the flames on it and then either nothing happens, it sort of falls by the wayside or maybe it's implemented but it looks a lot different. 

So again, when you're watching this video and I'm making other ones contemporaneously with this one talking about these possible new tax changes, understand they are proposals. We have yet to see anything even attempted to be promulgated into law, but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.