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Published on November 4, 2007

Kasamsan Weerakun, 44, a former senior executive of Thai Beverage, producer of Chang beer and related brands, is now testing his mettle in the political arena.

As deputy leader of the Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana Party, Kasamsan is responsible for promoting the party's populist policies ahead of the December 23 general election.

"I'm also preparing to stand for the election," says the former Thammasat University economics lecturer, who was recently persuaded by Dr Somkid Jatusripitak, an economic guru of the Thaksin era, to join the new party.

"I used to work with Dr Somkid, who was eight years my senior at Thammasat, on several major university events. Given the Constitution Court's ruling following the disbanding of the Thai Rak Thai party, he's been banned from an active role in politics for a period of five years. So Dr Somkid can only serve as the party's adviser on economic policies, which are our main menu for voters. "In Thai, the slogan is 'Pracha Somkid', or 'Populism Plus' since we want to differentiate our platform from those of other parties as virtually all are offering populist or state welfare policies or a combination," says Kasamsan.

The "Somkid" brand of populism, which is quite similar to that of Thaksin Shinawatra, would lead to big tax cuts for wage earners, home-buyers, small businesses etc, so that people have more disposable income to spend to help stimulate the economy, which has been slowed by political instability and a lack of consumer confidence.

This means income tax would be waived for those earning Bt240,000 a year or less, while tax allowances for those taking care of their parents or disabled family members and those buying new homes would be substantially increased to boost consumption in the economy.

"Altogether, we hope to increase the middle class's purchasing power so the economy can grow at a higher rate of, say, 5 per cent per annum, up from the current 3 to 4 per cent, as there would be multiplier effects on consumption and investment.

"But this means the government will have to part with tax revenues amounting to an annual Bt35 billion. In addition, we've proposed a monthly pension of Bt2,000 for about one million people who are not currently covered by any social security scheme, costing another Bt24 billion per year.

"For small and- medium-sized businesses, the income tax will be waived if their annual revenues are Bt3 million or less," he says.

These generous tax breaks are being planned against a macroeconomic backdrop of running fiscal budget deficits to the tune of Bt180 billion to Bt200 billion annually over a three-year period.

Based on the country's GDP of Bt8.8 trillion, the deficits would be in the range of 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the GDP.

For the fiscal 2008 budget, which started October 1, 2007, the government has already set a budget deficit of Bt140 billion, so there is less room for the new government to increase the deficit.

Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana Party, currently led by General Chetta Thanajaro, comprises several political factions, including those of Pradit Phataraprasit and Suwat Liptapanlop, as well as supporters and aides of Dr Somkid.

According to Kasamsan, the party expects to win only 30 to 80 House seats in the polls.

"As a result, we could only hope that Dr Somkid's inputs into these policies will also be considered by other parties if they share Dr Somkid's view on reviving the economy.

"Macro-wise, our platform is aimed at achieving GDP growth rates of around 5 per cent for five consecutive years, given that the current growth is too low, while the inflation target is 3 per cent per annum.

"Investment will have to grow 10 per cent annually over a five-year period, while the fiscal budgets will have to return to balance after three years and the public debt will not exceed 40 per cent of GDP," he says.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

nop1122@yahoo.com