Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the US-Thai Treaty of Amity, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development so called the OECD; I view this as an octopus with tentacles trying to stretch into everything we are doing over here in Thailand, has no business doing that, but I think it is important to point out, US Law and Thai Law regarding Americans doing business in Thailand is actually pretty well settled in a bilateral agreement that was signed at the Sovereign level called the US-Thai Treaty of Amity. For those who are unaware, our Treaty relationship with the Thais goes back some 191 years. The latest iteration of the Treaty in 1966 was ratified by the Senate and as I get into it other videos and I briefed previously and I'll throw up a link in the description below to that brief, it's my opinion that pursuant to the way the Treaty exists and the unique nature of the Treaty, American Amity Treaty Companies, i.e. those Companies that are certified as being American owned under the Treaty and therefore can be 100% American owned notwithstanding the provisions of the Foreign Business Act here in Thailand. Those companies become what I would call domestic non-resident corporations of the United States, and they have a very unique, novel and beneficial tax status compared to other types of companies the world over. This is a unique anomaly in Thailand, and it benefits those doing business in Thailand through corporations which are certified under the Amity Treaty. This is another example of one of the reasons why I think that Amity Treaty Certification can be beneficial is because even with all of this talk of OECD - and it is my understanding Thailand has not promulgated law regarding changes to tax or banking laws in furtherance of OECD, they are just “exploring” joining the OECD - but during that exploration we have seen a whole lot of stuff that I don't think anybody agrees with: capping the amount you can digitally transfer on your phone using your digital banking app; all of this dystopian neo-Soviet nonsense associated with banking; having to go in and do facial recognition and biometrics to access your own funds, I mean that's ridiculous to my mind. All of this we have seen primarily under the prior government here in Thailand, would seem to be being driven by the World Economic Forum most notably by the fact that one of their envoys came and met with our former Prime Minister in the Purple Room and then also pursuing this OECD stuff, it ain't good in my opinion as I have made abundantly clear in other videos on this channel, but I think that the Amity Treaty actually speaks to this more directly than I thought before. 

I thought of making this after reading through - every once in a while I just go through the text in the Amity Treaty - over at treaties.un.org under No. 9345,

Thailand and the United States of America, Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations (with notes of understanding and exchange of notes). Signed at Bangkok, on 29 May 1966. Now under Subsection 3 of I believe Article 4, quoting directly, and I believe it's Article 4 because I only quoted this Subsection 3, which we can go in and find the exact quote here. “3. Companies of either Party shall not be subject, within the territories of the other Party, to the payment of taxes upon income not attributable to sources within such territories, or upon transactions or capital not attributable to the operations and investments thereof within such territories." 

Now as we have discussed in other videos, the OECD has some things to say about that. They think that we are going to all get into this supranational system whereby foreign committees, foreign influence basically dictates domestically to the domestic tax service that, "hey you need to tax these people this much and you need to offset based on this, that and the other thing." It's extra territorial jurisdiction. In my opinion it's a direct affront to Thai sovereignty. I find it offensive as a Thai, I also find it offensive as an American for reasons pointed out by our President in the United States, Mr. Trump, who pointed it out in an Executive Order right when he went into office. My tip of the hat to Mr. Trump and I thank him for doing this. He did all of the American expats here in Thailand a great service when he promulgated this memo especially when you read it in line with Section 3 that I just quoted from the Treaty of Amity. 

That said, quoting from whitehouse.gov, Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury, the United States Trade Representative, the Permanent Representative of the United States to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Subject: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal. Quoting directly: "The OECD Global Tax Deal supported under the prior Administration not only allows extra territorial jurisdiction over American income but also limits our Nation's ability to enact tax policies that serve the interest of American businesses and workers." And I think that that is right in line again with, quoting from the Treaty of Amity: "Companies of either Party shall not be subject within the territories of the other Parties to the payment of taxes upon income not attributable to sources within such territory." So OECD is trying to mess with that, but the Treaty of Amity is promulgated Treaty Law already. The OECD is just something that is being explored. It's important to point that out. Quoting further: "Because of the Global Tax Deal and other discriminatory foreign tax practices, American companies may face retaliatory international tax regimes if the United States does not comply with foreign tax policy objectives." Exactly, and I think the same problem can attribute to Thailand as well. This is not something Thailand should sign on to; it is not something we should go along with. I think it's a direct again affront to our national sovereignty here. That said, quoting further: "This memorandum recaptures our Nation's sovereignty and economic competitiveness by clarifying that the Global Tax Deal has no force or effect in the United States." And I would love to see some affirmative statement from the Prime Minister's Office or otherwise to that effect regarding OECD here in Thailand; that would be great. 

That said, quoting further: "Applicability of the Global Tax Deal. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Permanent Representative of the United States to the OECD shall notify the OECD that any commitments made by the prior administration on behalf of the United States with respect to the Global Tax Deal have no force or effect within the United States absent an act by the Congress adopting the relevant provisions of the Global Tax Deal." And I say hear, hear to that here in Thailand. Without promulgated law from the Parliament, I don't see where all of this OECD stuff can be brought to bear. And it's really upsetting me that ever since we've started seeing them explore OECD, all this dystopian banking stuff has come down the pike, all this nonsense about tax has come down the pike. We have even seen these foreign tax stamp pimps, whatever you want to call them, basically foreign agents from foreign tax collection agencies etc., claiming all sorts of ability to dispense Thai tax advice coming over here and whipping up a fury in the expat community to get people to in my opinion file for a bunch of tax nonsense that they don't need to file for. It's causing all kinds of problems. 

That said, quoting directly: "The Secretary of the Treasury and the United States Trade Representative shall take all additional necessary steps within their authority to otherwise implement the findings of this memorandum," - which is basically like look OECD is not American law, therefore act as if it's not American law. Ignore it. It has nothing to do with American law or policy; that's the point of that memo. Here in Thailand, again this hasn't been enacted by Parliament; it's not doing anybody over here any good. None of this banking nonsense is helping. We've seen it and I have made videos on it. I think it is causing all sorts of problems, most notably I think it is jamming up the liquidity of the banking system here in Thailand. I think it's messing with the velocity of money within the economy. None of that augers well for a productive, value-creasing economic engine in the long term. It is my opinion, OECD needs to be entirely rejected by both Thailand as well as has been by the United States. I think that would be a good thing moving forward but as we noted, and I think it should be remembered in concluding this video, the US-Thai Treaty of Amity seems to specifically speak to this. So that is another benefit to having a company here in Thailand where an American can own it 100%. There are also specific provisions regarding Taxation and the OECD under the Treaty here in the Kingdom of Thailand.