Bank Of Thailand Backs Gold Tax To Trace Gambling Fraud Money
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has thrown its support behind a proposed 0.01% tax on gold transactions.
Governor Vitai Ratanakorn said the measure is designed to trace money laundered through fraud, scams and online gambling rather than to raise revenue.
The Proposed Tax
The specific business tax, currently under consideration by Thailand's Finance Ministry, would apply at a rate of 0.01% to gold transactions - meaning a 70,000 baht purchase would incur a tax of just 7 baht.
Vitai said the point of the levy is not the revenue it generates but the systematic transaction-reporting regime it would create, closing a gap where shares, corporate bonds and cryptocurrencies already carry transaction records but many gold trades do not.
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Where Gambling Money Fits In
"Money obtained through fraud, scams or online gambling ultimately has to be withdrawn from accounts to be laundered in other forms, whether gold, foreign currency or digital assets.
"That is why we must stop the money at the point where it is about to leave the system," Vitai said. He added that the BOT is not accusing the gold trade as a whole of wrongdoing, but believes some shops are being used as a channel to convert improperly obtained money into gold.
Part Of A Wider Crackdown
The gold-tax proposal sits inside the BOT's broader "Bangkok Blueprint" initiative, under which the central bank joined financial institutions and other agencies on September 10 to announce stronger joint commitments against illicit financial flows.
Other measures include new conditions on cash withdrawals exceeding 5 million baht and cooperation with Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission to examine unusually high trading volumes involving the stablecoin USDT.
Vitai stressed his support for the reporting mechanism does not amount to a final decision on introducing the tax, which remains with the Finance Ministry.
