Government won’t raise VAT

BANGKOK, May 25 (TNA) – The government does not have a plan to raise the value-added tax and people should not panic with rumours on the issue, government spokesman Sansern Kaekamnerd said. An old message with a picture first found in March last year was reposted on social media to claim that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha asked people to pay the new rate of VAT at 8% to prevent national bankruptcy, Lt Gen Sansern said. The prime minister and the government had already denied the message and assured that the government did not have a policy to raise VAT, the spokesman said. Although the Royal Gazette published on Oct 2 last year set the VAT at 10%from Oct 1 this year, the prime minister reiterated that the government would not raise it. The 7% rate would be maintained to avoid troubling people, Lt Gen Sansern said. The government always issued orders to cut the VAT to 7% every year, the spokesman said. Lt Gen Sansern also said that Prime Minister Prayut was not shaken with the outcome of an opinion survey via a pro-Prayut Facebook page. In the survey, the page asked if the prime minister should receive support to continue his national administration. About 500,000 people responded in a day and 89% of them did not give the support. Many agencies conducted opinion surveys on the popularity of Gen Prayut and outcomes were mixed. The prime minister would work at his best until the next election in which people would make the decision, Lt Gen Sansern said. (TNA)