The draft bill would lead to increasing taxes on these items if the National Legislative Assembly makes them law.
The current ceiling for excise tax on cigarettes at 80 per cent would be raised to 90-percent of the ex-factory price or 3 baht (USD 0.096) per gram of tobacco, equivalent to 60 baht (USD 1.92) per packet. A new definition of ex-factory price will enable the excise department to prevent manufacturers from declaring lower prices of their products to avoid fully paying taxes.
Following the decision, the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (TTM) has announced on 5 July that it will increase its production in hopes of increasing profits ahead of the expected tax hike.
TTM plans to increase daily production to around 150 million cigarettes per day to meet higher market demand over the next several months. Normally, the monopoly produces 105 million cigarettes per day.