Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha wants lawmakers to pass a draft bill on the land and buildings tax under his regime, says Deputy Finance Minister Wisudhi Srisuphan.
The government does not plan to delay enforcement of the land and buildings tax, which is scheduled to go into effect on Jan 1, 2019, said Mr Wisudhi.
His comment came after some local media reported the draft bill's implementation would be put off to 2020.
However, deliberation by the National Legislative Assembly's (NLA) standing committee has been extended several times, with the latest discussion at the end of next month going over the details about implementation of the tax, including the readiness of local administration organisation officials.
For example, local administrative organisation officials, who will be responsible for collecting the land and buildings tax, cannot access private sector land and buildings at the moment because the tax has not come into force yet, said Mr Wisudhi.
However, they should have time to survey the land after the tax is enforced as tax is collected once a year in April.
Last week, Mr Wisudhi said the standing committee on the land and buildings tax needs more time to vet the organic law to ensure its details are implemented in compliance with the agreement. The organic law consists of waivers, relaxation or impact alleviation for the land and buildings tax.
Given that the new property law will have a wide-ranging effect on farmers, citizens, businesses and state enterprises, it is essential to offer tax relief for special-purpose buildings, piers, dams, airports, and land and buildings of state enterprises such as PTT Plc and Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, he said.
Earlier, the committee largely watered down the new property tax rates proposed by the Finance Ministry. It agreed to call for a ceiling tax rate for homes of 0.3%, down from 0.5% proposed by the Finance Ministry; an agricultural use rate of 0.15%, down from 0.2%; and other use and undeveloped land at 1.2%, down from 2%.
The NLA's version proposes to trim the exemption ceiling for first homes to 20 million baht from 50 million proposed by the Finance Ministry. The proposal requires owners of first homes appraised at 20-50 million baht to pay a property tax rate of 0.02%, or 200 baht for every million baht that exceeds the exemption threshold, and 0.03% for houses valued 50-75 million baht, 0.05% for those more than 75-100 million, and 0.1% for houses appraised at more than 100 million.
Second homes will be taxed 0.02% for property with appraisal value of up to 50 million baht, 0.03% for 50-75 million, 0.05% for value of 75-100 million and 0.1% for more than 100 million.
The new tax replaces the outdated house and land tax and local development tax.
