Streetwise: Why are most taxpayers never gain relief?

The debtors are grinning because they will be paying a lower interest rate than those quoted by the brutal loan sharks, while the lenders are delighted that they will be paid off. Given that this windfall is not for everyone, there will be enough people out there waiting to get a piece of the pie.

It is interesting that the scheme will be executed through Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and the Government Savings Bank. Of course, it is bound to be a success. After all, who wouldn't want to refinance their high-interest debt with a lower-interest one?

However, there's one caveat - to be eligible, a debtor needs to come up with one or two guarantors. Isn't this the very reason why most people go to loan sharks - because they can't find guarantors?

Or does this mean they will be able to find guarantors because, after all, the lenders are state-owned banks and not people who might chase down a repayment by holding a knife to one's back?

Yet one cannot understand how this scheme would benefit the economy. With lower interest rates, will the debtors end up spending more than they can afford? What happens if these small borrowers default?

Obviously the BAAC has thought of this scenario, because otherwise it would have created an account that could be compensated by taxes if it started showing a shortfall.

Still, I have to sympathise deeply with individual taxpayers. It is estimated that some 5 million people pay income tax, against a population of 63 million. Yet, never in history have these taxpayers benefited from any populist policies.

Yes, some families do get cheaper healthcare for the elderly, through the Bt30 scheme, yet taxpayers were conveniently left out when the government handed out Bt20 billion of tax money.

Its true that some taxpayers who could afford to buy a house this year benefited as they could take up to Bt300,000 off their deductible income, but what happens to the rest of us?

I certainly am upset that I've never been the client of a loan shark, that I don't qualify for any populist schemes or that I cannot help myself to anything financed by the taxes I pay.