OPINION

Easing expat fears

Re: "Ease foreign tax burden", (Editorial, June 24).

That is an excellent call for the authorities to ease fear among expats. It will be sad for them to move elsewhere because of misinformation. It is not because of their wealth but more of their wisdom and reflection on us that we will miss. The normal excellent presentation needs three corrections.

First, the revenue head believed that taxing world income on tax residents was to lift up the Thailand tax regime to the level of OECD's tenet and not about budgetary concerns.

Secondly, with 61 countries having a treaty to avoid double taxation with Thailand, one can almost say that most expatriates in Thailand belong to one of these countries except for income coming from tax-haven countries. Thirdly, claiming for double taxation relief is simple. The Thai tax system on individuals is based on self-declaration of income and relief.

One simply fills in the self-declared income tax form. The declaration can be challenged subsequently by the Revenue Department, legally within ten years but in practice far less than that and less frequently. One can forget the idea of bankers conducting examinations on behalf of the Revenue Department. It is not based on an examination on the spot, as customs officials and Thai bankers have many times ruled out this irrational idea.

Unmasking Hitler

Re: "Alternate history", (PostBag, June 21).

While HHB provides a useful corrective to the normal distortions of the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the abuse of Munich as a historical parallel by ignorant and/or manipulative politicians, I take issue with some missing facts and this whitewashing of Hitler's crimes.

The Sudetenland, a German-speaking territory, had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, not Germany. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the Czechs declared independence and claimed this mountainous region as a natural barrier during the redrawing of European borders at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

While it is somewhat true that the new Czechoslovakian state mistreated the Sudeten Germans, the Czechs did ultimately offer the Sudeten Germans autonomy, which Hitler rejected. (Hitler's record of defending minority rights is also suspect; I think we can all agree.) Overall, HHB seems to argue that Hitler was just an advocate for the right of the German people to determine their own political future, but this ignores Hitler's explicit promises to expand German lebensraum to the east.

Yes, Hitler wanted to unite all of the German people, but he also wanted to subject the Slavs in the east to some sick combination of servitude and extermination. Hitler was a monster, but it took the world a long while to recognise this because a few of Hitler's initial actions and demands seemed legitimate.

Role models wanted

Re: "Kingdom's top cops set poor example", (Opinion, June 24).

Veera appears not to address unaccountability set from on high. It might even be said that the zealous children follow examples set by lauded leaders. Examples of unaccountability and opaqueness are not wanted.