Chris Potranan declared that three MPs from the Economic Party are giving up their parliamentary pension rights and called on the government to exempt a 7-baht excise tax per liter of fuel to help the public.
At 11:30 a.m. on 8 April 2026, Chris Potranan, a party-list MP from the Economic Party, urged the government to waive a 7-baht excise tax per liter on fuel to assist the people. He also addressed issues including the so-called “three-wheel MP lottery winners,” the cancellation of parliamentary pensions, and Thailand’s consumption of sugar at prices higher than the global market, despite being a producer and exporter.
Chris stated that last week he took representatives of the BRICS group to discuss ways to import refined oil at world market prices into Thailand. If successful, this would lower fuel prices by 7 to 10 baht per liter. Today, Energy Minister Anutin Charnvirakul met with the Russian ambassador to Thailand in the morning, with hopes for positive developments in importing cheaper oil from Russia.
Meanwhile, Eknat Phompunt, Minister of Energy, is preparing to announce a royal decree to control fuel prices, which would reduce refining costs by 2 baht per liter.
Regarding excise taxes, the Economic Party’s stance is to “temporarily abolish excise taxes” rather than provide targeted subsidies. They proposed the government promptly waive a 7-baht excise tax per liter on fuel. If implemented, diesel prices would fall from around 50 baht per liter to 40 baht.
Chris gave an example that in 2023, the government collected only 120 billion baht in excise taxes due to existing relief measures. He believes that if fuel prices rise this year, the government can afford to forgo this revenue to provide widespread assistance and could also consider exempting value-added tax on fuel.
On the controversial issue of the “three-wheel MPs winning the lottery,” which has been heavily criticized, Chris noted that some MPs serve only one term or just six months but eventually receive a parliamentary pension exceeding 24,000 baht monthly for life. He believes this should be canceled to save about 400 million baht annually.
Chris confirmed that all three MPs from the Economic Party will definitely not claim benefits from the former parliamentary members’ fund. He questioned whether it is appropriate for MPs who are not in hardship to receive lifelong payments from taxpayers and said the party will request an audit from the Secretary-General of the House of Representatives to identify who is receiving such payments.
On a final note, Chris addressed agricultural issues, saying that sugarcane farmers have submitted a letter to the party because Thailand consumes sugar at prices higher than the global market despite being the world’s third-largest exporter.
Currently, income distribution allocates 70% to sugarcane farmers and 30% to sugar mills. However, molasses used to produce ethanol for blending into gasoline, such as E20 and E85, has raised questions about why fuel blending increases prices and whether it benefits private sector interests.
Farmers also said that excess profits never truly reach them and called for this issue to be debated in parliament to determine who ultimately benefits from the high price of ethanol—the sugar mills, farmers, or the public.