The Phuket Excise Chief, Wasin Seetalarom, today (Dec 24) flatly denied any immediate rises in the tax to be levied on alcohol sales.
“There has not been any increase in the tax on alcohol sales,” he said, countering reports sent to The Phuket News claiming that officials had been visiting businesses in the main tourism towns along the west coast and explaining to businesses operators that the tax will jump 10% next month.
“The tax was updated only in September last year, and we have not received any notification from Bangkok about any chnges in the immediate future,” Mr Wasin noted.
Also, none of our officers have been visiting Patong, Karon and Kata telling people about this. These people (making the claims) might be acting as fake officials," he added.
Any business operators who are visited by such persons are urged to report the visits to the police and to the Phuket Excise Office by calling any of the following numbers: 076-212281, 076-221040, 076-3548300, 076-217319, 076-213896 or 076-217311 Ext 0.