Finance Ministry raises excise tax collection target

BANGKOK, 7 May 2010 (NNT) – The Ministry of Finance has increased its excise tax collection target for the fiscal year 2010 by 75 billion THB in order to alleviate the government’s loan burden.

Deputy Finance Minister MD Pruttichai Damrongrat stated today that he had granted a policy to the Excise Department to collect an additional 75 billion THB in excise tax in an effort to help lessen the loan burden of the government. He noted that the collected fund would also bolster the state budget in 2011 for implementing various government projects.

The Excise Department’s collection for the first six months of the 2010 fiscal year (October 2009-March 2010) stood at 207.39 billion THB, a 41.92% increase or 61.25 billion THB higher than the initial projection. In March 2010 alone, 39.7 billion THB was acquired, a 54.31% increase or 13.9 billion THB higher than expected.