Julpan explained the Pheu Thai Party's policy "Create 9 Millionaires Daily" is not about free handouts but about bringing 9 trillion baht of the informal economy into the formal sector. He pointed to real case studies and urged an end to baseless "fixed outcome" rhetoric.
25 Jan 2026 GMT+7 Julpan Amornwiwat, leader of the Pheu Thai Party and prime ministerial candidate, postedon Facebookto clarify the "Create 9 Millionaires Daily" policy explaining it is not a cash giveaway but a long-term investment in the country's data infrastructure.
There is misunderstanding that this policy wastes budget, but in reality, it is a systematic strategy to increase state revenue by bringing people into the formal economy and tax system. When citizens request receipts to enter prize draws, the tax base expands immediately, automatically increasing tax revenue.
"Therefore, this is not free handouts but an investment to streamline the country's financial system. This model is not a vague idea but has global case studies proving its effectiveness in countries like Brazil, which improved tax collection by about 8-9%, and Taiwan, a highly successful prototype model that increased tax revenue by an average of 20%. These cases clearly show that incentives for public cooperation work better than enforcement or penalties."
Julpan further explained the simple math of ROI (return on investment): Thailand's current VAT base is about 800-900 billion baht. If tax collection increases by Taiwan’s level of roughly 20%, the state could gain nearly 200 billion baht annually, while the policy's cost (prize money) is about 3 billion baht, only about 3.3% of the cost to gain hundreds of billions in revenue. In other words, "Invest a few billion but potentially earn hundreds of billions back."
He compared this to the national budget: current public investment is around 800 billion baht. If this policy increases state revenue by just 100-200 billion baht (12.5-25%), it would provide substantial additional resources to develop infrastructure, welfare, and public services.
. The real treasure is "Big Data"—what the state gains is not just tax money but unprecedented real-time economic data. For example,
Most importantly, it can bring 9 trillion baht of Thailand’s informal economy into the formal sector. Currently, Thailand's informal economy exceeds 9 trillion baht, ranking 14th worldwide. Direct tax enforcement is difficult and meets resistance, so this policy uses the hope of becoming one of nine daily millionaires as an incentive for citizens and entrepreneurs to voluntarily enter the system. The outcome is a win-win: citizens have prize chances, the state gains new tax bases, and the country obtains Big Data for precise administration.
"Stop spreading baseless 'fixed outcome' conspiracies. The random draw system will be designed to be auditable. What is more worrying is the traditional budget use, which is often wasteful and leaky due to lack of accurate data. Having Big Data from this policy will make future welfare spending more targeted, transparent, and tax-efficient. This policy should not be seen as old-style populist cash handouts but as an investment in the country's data infrastructure—a start today for future returns in both state revenue and invaluable data. For those worried about fiscal discipline, the answer is simple: 'Return on investment,' which has already been clearly demonstrated."