The Sports Act passed by the National Legislative Assembly in January and pending publication in the Royal Gazette will require manufacturers and distributors of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products to contribute to a new sports fund at the rate equivalent to 2% of the excise taxes they pay the Finance Ministry each year.
The ministry will collect the money and submit it to the sports fund, which was set up to support sports and Thai athletes.
New levies typically are passed on to customers. The increase would translate into price increases of B3 to B5.
The sports fund is expected to grow by four billion baht over a year, as beer companies pay excise taxes totalling B76 billion, liquor makers and distributors B64 billion and tobacco companies B61 billion.
Thailand Tobacco Monopoly told Thai media that its contribution to the sports fund would be about B2.8 billion annually, while the cigarette maker earns B6 billion in net profit. The monopoly currently has to contribute B1.6 billion to the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and Thai Public Broadcasting Services.
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