The Thai authorities have decided once again to postpone the tourist tax.
It was planned that a tourist tax of 300 baht (about $9) would begin to be collected from foreign tourists from June 1, 2023. However, the Thai authorities have postponed the introduction of the fee until at least September. This was reported by the Telegram channel @ranarod with a link to the Thai media.
The cancellation of the launch of the innovation from June is due to the complexity of implementation. It was planned to include the tax in the cost of air tickets, but the authorities have not decided how to separate foreigners from Thais and expats, who are exempt from the tax. The suggestion that they could get their 300 baht back later turned out to be extremely unpopular.
The same problem is known to have been encountered with the collection of fees at land and sea borders. It was proposed to pay the tax at kiosks at the border, through a website or application. But they could not solve the problem with possible queues, as well as with merchants from neighboring countries who enter Thailand for just a few hours.