Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the so-called DTV or Destination Thailand Visa. There are those who can be critical of me. I have taken a lot of frankly grief on YouTube over my position and my thoughts on the Destination Thailand Visa; this may or may not be another video where people give me a bunch of grief about it.

But I was thinking about it recently, and I have discussed in other videos, how the DTV, it was entirely a brainchild of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I would even argue it was actually a brainchild of the Shinawatras who were at one time the main driver behind the Phue Thai Party which made up the primary impetus behind the last Government. I think it was primarily invented to create a boost in "tourism" for Thailand at a moment when Paetongtarn Shinawatra was coming in as the new Prime Minister and they wanted to create a bunch of fanfare and whatnot. The fundamental fact of it is as I have discussed in other videos, and again foreigners can get angry at me over this, but it is what it is, it was bad policy for Thailand; it was badly formulated policy insofar as it was entirely a brainchild of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They didn't ask for any input from Interior Ministry which is tasked with dealing with Immigration internally. They also didn't seem to want to have anything to do with the Labour Department either because they made a bunch of sweeping statements that to the best of my knowledge, aren't very in line with the actual laws; I have discussed in another video made contemporaneously with this one. 

But the point of this video pertains to tax, and at the end of the day, Thailand seems in fact the Government, the bureaucracy, whatever you want to call it, whether good, bad, indifferent, I have my own issues with the OECD and the World Economic Forum and some of the policy push behind that, the Government seems concerned with raising taxes. As we have discussed in other videos, the Revenue Department came out and said they are going to have a shortfall. I have a problem believing some of that because they sort of set their own numbers but whatever, they think that more tax is necessary in Thailand. Well what is the DTV doing for that? All these people are coming in; ostensibly they are not producing anything in Thailand. It is why the Visa was allowed to be utilized for these so-called digital nomads. They are using resources in Thailand. Okay they are spending minimal amounts of money in terms of accommodation and things, but they are not contributing to the tax base. What is the purpose of this?

As I have discussed in other videos, I have issues with it from a policy standpoint, from the standpoint that Ministry of Foreign Affairs just made it up and then basically Interior Ministry had to live with it, so they just dumped all these people on to Thailand internally to have to deal with and process, but then on top of everything else, they are using resources here in the Kingdom. They are utilizing mass transit, they are utilizing infrastructure; presumably they could be utilizing hospitals etc. What are they bringing? They specifically say it is not work authorized for Thailand, so what is being brought in here? They can't have bank accounts as we have discussed in other videos, so how are they bringing money in that they are spending in Thailand. Again I understand maybe at the ATM, they are using their local bank card from back home, but presumably without banking facilities, they are not going to really be spending a lot of money in Thailand. So what is the purpose of this and how is it adding to the tax base? What is the benefit to Thailand of the DTV? Again, when it was rolled out, I think that there was a short-term benefit to the Party in power - specifically the incoming Prime Minister - who wanted to appear to be spiking tourism numbers which then was basically offset by the fact that they started making a bunch of weird policies regarding Cannabis that effectively reversed a lot of those numbers, but again what is the benefit to Thailand at this point?

You have got a bunch of people in Thailand who to the best of my knowledge, a lot of them seem to be making videos - sometimes highly negative in terms of their portrayal of Thailand, especially if the DTV doesn't work out exactly as they want it to, and again I can understand that, because it was sold a certain way, but again what is the benefit to Thailand. How has the tax base benefited by having all of these folks in Thailand, although they are not allowed to work, they are not allowed to really do anything to contribute to the tax base? What is the purpose of that? And, they are supposed to be here over a prolonged period of time, as long as 5 years. Again where is the benefit to the country from that kind of setup?