Sirikan severely criticizes the government over the revised criteria of the state welfare card that reduce rights for elderly parents whose names are used by their children for tax deductions.
On 4 June 2026 GMT+7, Ms. Wasirikan Tanakul, deputy leader of the Prachachon Party, posted on her personal Facebook page criticizing Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Akeniti Nititanprapas's explanation about the new criteria for the state welfare card program. The new rules disqualify elderly parents if their names are used by their children to claim personal income tax deductions.
Ms. Sirikan questioned the logic behind this criterion, stating that current law allows children to claim a tax deduction for supporting parents over 60 years old with annual income not exceeding 30,000 baht, limited to 30,000 baht per year. This means the state supports children sending less than 3,000 baht per month to their parents on average. Yet, when children use this right for tax deductions, parents are immediately disqualified from receiving the state welfare card, which is an unfair standard that effectively "punishes dutiful children."
Furthermore, the deputy party leader pointed out the inconsistency in figures: the original income threshold for receiving the welfare card was set at no more than 100,000 baht per year. Even if children fully support their parents, the combined income would not exceed 60,000 baht per year, well below the government’s set limit. Therefore, there is no valid reason to use this condition to disqualify citizens. She concluded that the government cannot justify using this criterion to cut benefits unless it raises the tax deduction for supporting parents to as high as 100,000 baht per year.