Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: None, , course: Public Administration, language: English, abstract: This paper looks at the effects of taxes on income distribution in Thailand making use of the 2005 data from the Bureau of the Budget and other sources. We attempt to figure out if Thai tax system is pro poor or rich (i.e. progressive or regressive) among the various tax types on the five quintile income groups. This paper is used to ascertain which income group tend to pay more of their incomes as taxes. The paper also explores the relationship between tax incidence and poverty reduction on the one hand and indicators of access to education and health services and social outcomes on the other using simple measures of association. We conclude that based on the results of the tax system, the income distribution of Thai households became more equal on individual income tax, implying a gradual effort to bridge the income gap between the rich and the poor in Thailand. A pre-tax Gini coefficient of 0.3056 saw a marginal improvement, leading to a post-tax Gini coefficient of 0.2862 on post-tax (IIT), implying the situation on post-tax individual income shows an attempt by Thai government to have equality in individual incomes, and thereby bridging the income gaps. In general, the total post-tax coefficient ended at 0.3085 indicating, though efforts are being put in place by government to enhance the income situation of the poor, the effort according to our empirical results is marginal and have even worsened the income disparity situation by increasing income inequality to another level. The result confirms the distribution of income of Thai households became more unequal, and an indicative of a tax regime which is regressive at the end. We therefore make a number of policy recommendations on the ensuing situation.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2013 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, grade: A, , course: Fiscal and Monetary Policy Analysis and Management, language: English, abstract: This paper attempts to test the validity of public welfare spending theories (compensation theory, system theory, median voter theory, group theory, Incrementalism and some variants of public choice theory) in the context of Thailand. The study make use of GDP, previous welfare spending, increases in population, tax revenue, openness to trade, democratic government, labour union, trade association, urbanisation and welfare spending as a share of GDP over the period 1982 – 2007. We found strong and positive link between globalisation, GDP, tax revenue, labour union and previous welfare spending with Thailand welfare spending. These increases will invariably call for increased access to education, health care systems and other related welfare spending which means, the revenue base has to be increased through tax. We therefore recommend Thai Government to undertake reform in the tax system to broaden the tax net. Also, land and property tax systems ought to be reformed as well to extend coverage. We also recommend the stimulation of domestic demand in Thailand to reduce the over reliance on the international market which exposes countries to high end risks and uncertainties. The falling population growth in Thailand could also spell a doom to Thai’s labour supply. Thailand currently relies on immigrant workers from neigbouring countries like Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Burma. As the economic conditions in these countries improve, these immigrant workers might return. This will create a shortage in the supply needs to cater for the ever increasing demand propelled by the continuous industralisation of the Thai economy. Policy decision makers should factor this in their subsequent decision to mitigate this effect in the near future.

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, printed single-sided, grade: "none," - (National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok - Graduate School of Public Administration), course: PhD, language: English, abstract: Abstract: To reduce inequality in income distribution and reduce the poverty social welfare spending in Thailand particularly on education and health services is regarded as one of the effective instruments. Policy makers agree that public subsidies on education and health produce positive externalities and have spill over effect in the society. This research is designed to analyse the effects of public spending of education and health on income distribution which examine the pre-expenditure and post-expenditure income distribution in Thailand. It follows the benefit incidence analysis (BIA) that is a method of computing the distribution of public expenditure across different demographic groups, such as women and men. The procedure involves allocating per unit public subsidies (for example, expenditure per student for the education sector) according to individual utilization rates of public services. This paper aims at examine who are the real beneficiaries from the government expenditure. The study uses the quantitative method where data are used of 2010. From the benefit incidence analysis on the public expenditure on education it seems that education system is pro-poor and health care system are not pro-poor rather pro-rich. The poor people can be benefited more from the primary and secondary education and less benefited from the tertiary education. However, overall expenditure on education is favourable to the poor which proves from the income share of household. In this perspective, The Thai government should emphasize on higher education for poor by providing special loan created only for them and universities should also be adopted the policy so that poor income class people can access the opportunity.