travelerjim
April 1st, 2007, 08:47
New Luxury tax on internet usage in Thailand
All internet accounts to be taxed with 970 Baht/month.
Hardware dongle required for internet use
as reported on thaivisa.com:
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php ... pic=113989 (http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=113989) .
BANGKOK: -- The government has announced heavy investment to upgrade Thailand's international bandwidth, but has introduced an internet tax to help fund investment, and control usage.
The internet tax will be based on bandwidth and would be applied on a graduated scale according to the speed of a users internet connection. The internet luxory tax will be 970 Baht/month for most users.
Foreigners without a work permit and retirees will be required to pay the monthly tax at a higher rate, 1,490 Baht/month.
Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok says "foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website la mock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, e-commerce, and furthering their education".
In addition to the bandwidth tax, an extra usage tax of 490 Baht will be levied on those using Bittorrents and surfing foreign language internet forums.
New hardware required
The new internet tax will require all internet users in Thailand to install a hardware dongle from CAT. The dongles can be picked up free of charge from any 7-Eleven outlets in Thailand starting today. Without the dongle, users will be disconnected after 6 minutes of use and unable to access the internet from 23.30pm tonight.
--------------------------
Be sure to read the many replies to this new luxury tax...
especially these from thaivisa posters:
"can you use your own dongle....as my one is a bit bigger than the one in the pic."
"I was so concerned about this new imposition on farang that I rushed straight down to my local 7-11.
I asked the young chap behind the counter if I could check out his dongle.
We are meeting tonight for drinks.
"Hey must have gone to the same 7/11 store
my Thai wife went down and asked to see if she could see his dongle
and was told he already had a full appointment book for tonight,
he had a smile on his face like a Siamese cat"
"Don't use the dongle available at 7/11 if you can go to Bangrak.
There is a special dongle available at the CAT data center in Bangrak (behind the post office Bangrak).
This is from the ICT, and is just for the volunteers helping to clean the web for Thailand.
You have to report 3 pornographic sites per day to the ICT (on a special form), which will then be blocked immediately.
In return you are tax exempted, you can surf for free. Foreigners are accepted, but no internet cafes.
However, if you miss the target, your dongle gets canceled.
There is a limited number of these special dongles though, you better rush."
Enjoy :-)
TJ
All internet accounts to be taxed with 970 Baht/month.
Hardware dongle required for internet use
as reported on thaivisa.com:
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php ... pic=113989 (http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=113989) .
BANGKOK: -- The government has announced heavy investment to upgrade Thailand's international bandwidth, but has introduced an internet tax to help fund investment, and control usage.
The internet tax will be based on bandwidth and would be applied on a graduated scale according to the speed of a users internet connection. The internet luxory tax will be 970 Baht/month for most users.
Foreigners without a work permit and retirees will be required to pay the monthly tax at a higher rate, 1,490 Baht/month.
Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok says "foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website la mock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, e-commerce, and furthering their education".
In addition to the bandwidth tax, an extra usage tax of 490 Baht will be levied on those using Bittorrents and surfing foreign language internet forums.
New hardware required
The new internet tax will require all internet users in Thailand to install a hardware dongle from CAT. The dongles can be picked up free of charge from any 7-Eleven outlets in Thailand starting today. Without the dongle, users will be disconnected after 6 minutes of use and unable to access the internet from 23.30pm tonight.
--------------------------
Be sure to read the many replies to this new luxury tax...
especially these from thaivisa posters:
"can you use your own dongle....as my one is a bit bigger than the one in the pic."
"I was so concerned about this new imposition on farang that I rushed straight down to my local 7-11.
I asked the young chap behind the counter if I could check out his dongle.
We are meeting tonight for drinks.
"Hey must have gone to the same 7/11 store
my Thai wife went down and asked to see if she could see his dongle
and was told he already had a full appointment book for tonight,
he had a smile on his face like a Siamese cat"
"Don't use the dongle available at 7/11 if you can go to Bangrak.
There is a special dongle available at the CAT data center in Bangrak (behind the post office Bangrak).
This is from the ICT, and is just for the volunteers helping to clean the web for Thailand.
You have to report 3 pornographic sites per day to the ICT (on a special form), which will then be blocked immediately.
In return you are tax exempted, you can surf for free. Foreigners are accepted, but no internet cafes.
However, if you miss the target, your dongle gets canceled.
There is a limited number of these special dongles though, you better rush."
Enjoy :-)
TJ