Korn urges the Finance Ministry to reform the tax collection structure, proposing agency mergers and reviewing tax benefits for foreigners after discovering actual collection is only 4%, highlighting the lesson of losing tens of billions in tobacco tax revenue.
At 19:15 on 7 Sep 2026 GMT+7, Mr. Korn Jatikavanich, party-list MP from the Democrat Party, raised concerns about the Finance Ministry's budget and management, pointing out failures in tax collection and budget planning inconsistent with actual funds. He noted that the budget structure of the three main tax departments does not align with real revenues. The Revenue Department receives about 10 billion baht but collects up to 2.3 trillion baht, or 80% of government revenue. Meanwhile, the Customs Department is allocated 4 billion baht but collects only 120 billion baht, just 4% of total revenue.
Therefore, the Finance Ministry must urgently reform the tax collection agencies by sharing data and considering merging tax agencies, such as combining the Excise Department and Customs Department, as many countries do, to reduce expenses and increase revenue collection efficiency.
Criticizes that tax collection from the wealthy is only 1%.
Mr. Korn added that he is concerned about the government's revenue structure, where tax revenue accounts for only 14% of GDP, with 99% derived from the working base or salaried workers, and only 1% from wealth. Ninety-nine percent of the Finance Ministry's income comes from taxing workers, not wealth tax, which accounts for merely about 1%. The government needs to review the corporate income tax rate collection; although the legal rate is 20%, the effective rate collected is only 4-5% due to excessive tax benefits and exemptions granted to foreign investors.
He proposed that the Finance Ministry review the cost-effectiveness of these tax benefits to significantly increase national revenue, citing the failed tobacco tax restructuring by the Excise Department over the past 6-7 years. The aim was to raise foreign cigarette prices, but the result caused the government to lose over 100 billion baht in accumulated tax revenue over 10 years and led to a surge of contraband cigarettes. He urged the Finance Ministry to learn from this lesson to set tax policies that reflect current realities.