Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the fact that the Grass isn't greener regarding tax policy outside Thailand. First of all, I am going to be quoting an article from Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Expat dreams shattered in Thailand: cockup, conspiracy are just plain nonsense. This is an article in Pattaya Mail by Mr. Barry Kenyon; hats off to you sir, tip of the hat.  I read the sort of preamble to that article. Those who are watching this video might want to check it out for yourself. A lot of nice things said about me, I really appreciate that. He was talking about a prior video I did where I was debunking this conspiracy theory video that has been put out there that all Thailand is against expats especially in the middle income and that they have Immigration connections and those connections introduced them to a network inside Thailand of folks who are against this stuff. It was just pretty crazy stuff. I have done a video - actually at this point a couple of videos - where I am kind of responding to just the general tone in the ether of the internet of these people that are talking frankly, frankly the analysis I recently did in one of the videos which wasn't exactly a response, just kind of my own take, frankly the analysis on the Destination Thailand Visa has not been too far off. Now as I have discussed in other videos, I called out the DTV for what it was. I said, “Look, this is going to be a problem”; it's the brainchild of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; it is not really fixing purpose; there is no real consensus on it here locally. On top of that, it doesn't really fit into the Immigration System generally. More and more I am starting to think we just need comprehensive immigration reform here in Thailand; we need a new Act. The last time there was a Parliamentary Act on Immigration, it came in 1979, the Immigration Act. But that said, there has also been all of this analysis throughout the internet, erroneous and frankly kind of mis-communicative of the underlying principles of tax, and that was also mentioned in that video, and now mentioned by Mr. Kenyon in this article. Quoting directly: "The grass is greener… a common refrain is to sing the praises of a neighbouring country such as Cambodia, Vietnam, based for example, on their assumed freer income tax policies." Yeah, as I discussed in a prior video, a video some one year ago, there seems to be something of it what I call a “cold war” in terms of, you could call it propaganda but basically just PR out there involving different countries trying to - in Southeast Asia - trying to attract travellers and one of the tactics out there seems to be throwing other countries under the bus. And one of the easy ways to do it recently, because there has been so much chatter again in the ether of the internet, out there on YouTube, whatever you want to call it, there has been a real movement to throw Thailand under the bus regarding Tax matters. And there is some room to do that, I mean I have been very vocal in my concerns about the way Thailand is going, but as I have discussed in many other videos, and unfortunately the charlatans and nonsense folks and what I refer to as 'stamp pimps' ran around out there and got everybody all worked up but frankly unnecessarily in many cases, about their possible tax liability that it came to a head in a very unfortunate way where in my mind it is actually and I have done videos on this, it may be driving people away and again that is a concern for Thailand. 

But that said, the point of this video is that hey, these other jurisdictions, the grass is not necessarily greener. That said, quoting further: “The argument is that Thailand will adopt the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development model to tax expats on their worldwide income, whether transmitted or not." Well beyond even that, the whole transmission thing, as we discussed in other videos, may or may not apply depending on the underlying facts in a given case, you may not be assessable, there may not be liability even if you are assessable. Again, different analysis for that; each case the facts are going to dictate the analysis. 

Meanwhile, this OECD thing is not a foregone conclusion Thailand is going to do it. The United States threw it out based clearly on the fact that and I quote: "it was a threat to national sovereignty". I'm very hopeful Thailand sees the light on that as well. And based on certain developments which we have reported on on this channel, I think there is a good chance that that will happen. That said: "In reality," - and I think Mr. Kenyon seems to kind of be echoing this - "In reality, Thailand is wisely showing signs of avoiding that trap, whilst Vietnam and Cambodia are both cooperating with OECD about tax policies. Nothing is certain." 

Well yeah, interesting, isn't it? All this talk about how great these other jurisdictions are, and you may be sort of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak, because again depending on where you go, it may not be a greener grass kind of situation. Again when it comes to tax specifically here in Thailand, the underlying facts in an individual's specific case are going to dictate whether or not they really need to worry about all these issues regarding tax, tax assessment, tax liability here in Thailand. Those who are really concerned about this, it is probably a good idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.