OPINION

Lost in translation

Re: "Consider real tax reform", (PostBag, Dec 8).

I am as keen as the next expat to submit my tax return, but is there any chance that our beloved Revenue Department could create an English version of the Online Tax Filing page?

Re: "Panel aims to delay wage hike", (Business, Dec 5).

Karl Reichstetter shows the role of competition in bringing quality in work and wage for labour.

Some say that if the government pushes more with the increase in wages, business will be destroyed.

The wage hike is an example of a Catch-22. At the same time, labourers will be miserable too if the wage is unfair.

At the end of the day, economists and policy makers must learn the harsh reality that, if workers do not have money in their pockets, the nation's purchasing power will decline, business can no longer grow and will wither at last.

It is Economics 101 -- if salarymen have no money, they cannot eat out, buy goods and invest.

Re: "Border trade up 6% in first 10 months", (Business, Dec 3).

As an undergraduate student at Mahidol University International College, I think it is great that Thailand's trade with its neighbouring countries has grown over the past several years.

However, this growth in regional trade has caused some noticeable changes in many areas.

Take for instance the area surrounding my university in Salaya neighbourhood in Nakhon Pathom's Phutthamonthon district.

Many local businesses have shut down, replaced by various Chinese restaurants which are rapidly mushrooming in the area.

This made me think that perhaps Thailand's government should introduce some restrictions on businesses from neighbouring countries, especially China, from setting up shop in Thailand, since their presence is killing local entrepreneurs.

Smaller, local businesses will never have the capital to compete with foreign investors looking to make their mark in the market.

Many of these foreign businesses also come armed with knowledge of the market that Thai businesses do not have, and they are able to take advantage of the free trade agreements between Thailand and China, allowing them to undercut their local competitors -- which could never bring their prices down as low as their foreign competitors without going out of business.

I experienced this firsthand as I was walking around my campus.

A new shop selling ice-cream for 10 baht a cone recently opened up next to a local ice-cream hawker that was selling theirs for 15 baht.

You can guess which shop most people ended up going to.

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