Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing yet again this notion of a Tourist Tax. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: New Tourist Tax on hold for umpteenth time. Quoting directly: "Thailand's much-anticipated 300 Baht levy on tourist arrivals by air (150 Baht by land or sea) won't be starting in September after all. Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the matter would need to be resolved by the incoming Government which is unlikely to be in office before mid-August." Yeah, I would even go a little bit further and say "hey let's not do this," because tourism is a good thing for Thailand and this whole notion of "well we have got to tax this, tax that!"

If you want to something let's get a regulatory structure in place and let's tax Cannabis, that is the clear option to me. Rather than messing with the Tourism Sector which we have shown after two and a half years of being in lockdown, is yeah it is not the end all be all of the Thai Economy, Thailand can survive without tourists. It's not fun but it can be done. I have said it before and I will say it again, "you can drive a car with your feet, it doesn't make it a good idea." Yes Thailand could survive without tourism, but should she want to? No. Thailand has a vibrant Tourism Sector. Every time there is discussion on this Tourist Tax thing it just kind of turns people off, I just don't think it is a great idea. I understand people want to, Governments like to tax, that is what Governments do but in this case it is sort of, I won't say it is killing the Golden Goose but it is certainly kind of ringing its neck a little bit because again do you really want to fiddle with the sentiments of proposed tourists to Thailand? It is just not a great idea. Then meanwhile, we have what could arguably be considered a true cash cow in the form of Cannabis. Again, let's regulate it; again criminal penalties for giving things to children, absolutely, unequivocally that should be the case. I have always thought that. I didn't even know that was a question out there. "What about kids?" Yeah of course no kids, Yes, duh!! Yeah, and put some criminal sanctions on it, spend real time in prison if you sell Cannabis to a minor. Good, that is the way it should be. That said, Tourism Tax, not so great. 

And those who are watching this video understand, this isn't happening right now and it doesn't look very imminent to me either because I kind of have my doubts that any new government coming in is going to say: "Well yeah, let's go after the Tourism Sector." I just kind of think that seems a little silly. I don't think that is probably what we are going to see happen. So again, the thing to take away from this video is 1) tourism tax is not happening any time soon if at all and if just also as a side note, if we are looking for tax revenue, look no further than Cannabis.