The Director-General of the Excise Department stated that the carbon tax, which will be collected from fuel, will not initially affect the public. It is a conversion from the original excise tax. However, in the future, all sectors must adjust to aim for Net Zero by 2050. For the results of excise tax collection in the past 11 months, 482,026 million baht was collected, 10.7% higher than the previous year. As for the arrest of 31,067 cases of tax evasion, it is 27.4% higher than the previous year.
Mr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, Director-General of the Excise Department, revealed that due to the rapid and severe climate change affecting all sectors around the world, the Excise Department is aware of and gives importance to this issue. Therefore, it has continuously implemented policies and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all dimensions in order to drive the country towards carbon neutrality and net zero greenhouse gas emissions, which is in line with the department’s strategy to drive the economy
with excise taxes, focusing on the environment, society, and governance (ESG).
In terms of the environment, the Excise Department has a Carbon Tax measure, which is a mandatory carbon price mechanism that creates awareness and participation in taking responsibility for carbon emissions for entrepreneurs and the public in order to reduce the impact of climate change. Entrepreneurs who export goods to destination countries that pay taxes in this section can negotiate a reduction in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) fee. In the first phase, the carbon tax will be adjusted by using the principle of converting the excise tax, which was originally an excise tax on oil, into a carbon tax, without creating a burden on the public.
While the EV 3.0 and EV 3.5 measures, which have 32 participants in the EV 3.0 and EV 3.5 measures, resulted in the number of EV registrations in 2023 being 685% higher than the previous year, and made Thailand the number 1 EV registration growth rate in ASEAN. It also resulted
in investment in the electric vehicle and parts industry, as well as related industries in Thailand worth more than 80 billion baht. This measure not only helps reduce environmental problems, but also increases competitiveness, creates knowledge in the modern automotive industry, and attracts foreign investment.
Social measures have been implemented to reduce excise tax rates on wine, liquor, and service establishments by adjusting the tax rate based on value from 10% to 0% and reducing the tax on entertainment venues from 10% to 5% to reduce costs for business operators and build competitiveness for operators. In addition to reducing the tax rate, the department has implemented the ‘1 Community, 1 Excise Champion’ project to promote the drive of the community economy. This project is a model of tangible public-private sector cooperation to drive the country’s economy from the community level. It strengthens communities and entrepreneurs by allowing them to access sources of capital, knowledge, marketing, en
ergy, the environment, product quality, and production, as well as promoting and emphasizing ESG to build competitiveness and reduce energy consumption to lower costs. Entrepreneurs who comply with the law and are properly registered with the Excise Department have clearly grown and generated more income. Over the past 11 months, the collection of tax revenue from community liquor has increased by more than 39 million baht, or 16.6%.
The Excise Department has issued a measure to reduce taxes on oil and oil products to reduce the cost of living and costs for the people and entrepreneurs to revive the country’s economy. However, the revenue collection results of the Excise Department for 11 months (October 2023 – August 2024) were 482,026 million baht, 10.7% higher than the previous year and 1.06% higher than the target of the Ministry of Finance, which is a target that has been adjusted to take into account the impact of various measures to help entrepreneurs and the people, such as measures to reduce oil tax
es, EV car taxes, etc.
Mr. Ekanit said that the Excise Department has continuously upgraded its proactive operations, starting from opening the Online Product Suppression Center and integrating cooperation with external agencies such as the Royal Thai Army, the Maritime Security Center (MSSC), the Central Investigation Bureau, the Department of Provincial Administration, and Thailand Post, resulting in a 27.4% increase in suppression results compared to the previous year.
The Excise Department also has good governance measures by using digital technology to check whether the products are legal and have passed the analysis by the Excise Department. The public can check by scanning the stamps on cigarette and liquor products. In addition to creating legitimacy for entrepreneurs who pay taxes honestly, it also takes care of the health safety of the public. It also continuously improves its work by listening to entrepreneurs and applying modern knowledge and skills such as Agile, Design Thinking, and Digital Tr
ansformation to increase work efficiency, promote personnel to be more flexible in their work, and promote seamless services to increase convenience for entrepreneurs and the public.
The latest development is a new website that is open to feedback from entrepreneurs, relevant agencies, and internal personnel of the department to meet all aspects of usage. In addition, the chatbot ‘Smitt’ was launched, which was created by Generative AI, as another channel to provide basic excise tax information to entrepreneurs and the public.
From upgrading operations and services by developing potential in various areas including the use of technological innovation, in the past 2 years, the Department has received many important awards both nationally and internationally, such as the ASOCIO Awards 2022, the State Excellence Award, and others, totaling 17 awards.
The Excise Department has set a goal and driven the entire organization to move forward towards the same goal: Net Zero in 2050, which is 15 years ahead of Thail
and’s goal, in which the department must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 2030, according to the following plan:
Oil sector, switch from combustion engines to EVs to reduce gas emissions by 19.5%.
Refrigerant sector, switch to R32 refrigerant to reduce gas emissions by 12.20%.
Electricity sector, switch to renewable energy or Solar Roof to reduce gas emissions by 62.40%, increase energy efficiency by using smart light bulbs or indoor lighting controls that automatically adjust lighting to reduce gas emissions by 1.60% and change from PCs to laptops to reduce gas emissions by 3.60%.
Waste sector, use efficient waste management to reduce gas emissions by 0.40%, including switching to document-free or paperless operations to reduce gas emissions by 0.30%.
Supply chain management sector, promote customers and networks to create opportunities to enter the Green Supply Chain, such as entrepreneurs of the 1 Community 1 Excise Champion Community Liquor Project.
The Excise Department is committed t
o upgrading to an ESG department, moving towards Net Zero in 2050, in line with the strategy to drive the economy with excise taxes, focusing on the environment, society, and good governance, creating international standards, and moving Thailand towards sustainability.
Source: Thai News Agency