Golden Gate University School of Law GGU Law Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 3-2015 DETERRING CORRUPTION THROUGH TAX REFORM: THE CASE OF THAILAND Benjamas Junyarungruang Golden Gate University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/theses Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons Recommended Citation Junyarungruang, Benjamas, "DETERRING CORRUPTION THROUGH TAX REFORM: THE CASE OF THAILAND" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 69. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW “DETERRING CORRUPTION THROUGH TAX REFORM: THE CASE OF THAILAND” BY BENJAMAS JUNYARUNGRUANG SUBMITTED TO THE GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES IN FULFILLMENT OF THE RQUIREMENT FOR THE CONFERMENT OF THE DEGREE OF SCIENTIAE JURIDICAL DOCTOR (SJD) DISSERTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS: DR. CHRISTIAN NWACHUKWU OKEKE (CHAIR) DR. SOMPONG SUCHARITKUL (READER) DR. NANCY YONGE (MEMBER) SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA MARCH 2015 i DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my sweet and loving parents Kamol Junyarungruang and Kobkul Junyarungruang, who always provided encouragement and support for me and my children. Unfortunately, my father passed away before I was able to complete this dissertation, so I honor him with this work. I also dedicate this work to my 3 children, Reilani, Aiko, and Noriko along with my beloved husband who has stood by me through thick and thin. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am deeply grateful and I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee: Professor Dr. Christian N Okeke, Distinguished Professor Dr. Sompong Sucharitkul, and Professor Dr. Nancy Yonge. I must specifically acknowledge Dr. Nancy Yonge who continually and patiently provided supervision and support. It is truly a great honor to be able finish this work under her supervision. I am also very grateful that Dr. Richard Yonge helped in my preparation for the expert interviews. I would also like to thank my former boss Pituck Keammarat, previously Senior Vice President of the Legal Department of Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT), Public Company Limited for his suggestions and valuable insights and recommendations; To the Gervacio Denda Law Firm and the AMC Law Firm of the Philippines, for their support and guidance in Philippine and other foreign law; And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the staff of the SJD program at Golden Gate University, with a very special thank you to John Pluebell for all his support. Finally, I deeply appreciate the love and support provided by my family: my husband Dr. H. Rey Gervacio, my daughters and my brothers and sister. iii “DETERRING CORRUPTION THROUGH TAX REFORM: THE CASE OF THAILAND” TABLE OF CONTENT Contents PROLOGUE ................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 11 Thailand, U.S. and the Philippines: an overview ...................................................................... 11 Thailand ................................................................................................................................ 11 United States of America ...................................................................................................... 16 The Philippines ..................................................................................................................... 19 Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 24 Review of Literature ................................................................................................................. 24 Death Tax Defined ................................................................................................................ 26 Capital Gains Tax Defined .................................................................................................... 36 Property Tax Defined ............................................................................................................ 38 Justification for a Death Tax ..................................................................................................... 40 Arguments For the Estate Tax .............................................................................................. 45 Arguments Against the Estate Tax ....................................................................................... 54 Thailand’s Experts Weight in on the Death Tax ................................................................... 62 Summary and Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 71 Review of Estate Taxes, Capital Gains and Property Taxes ..................................................... 71 United States Federal Estate Tax .......................................................................................... 73 Philippine Estate Tax ............................................................................................................ 88 United States Capital Gains Tax System .............................................................................. 96 Philippine Capital Gains Tax System ................................................................................. 106 United States Property Tax System .................................................................................... 112 Philippines Property Tax System ........................................................................................ 116 iv Thailand Property Tax System............................................................................................ 119 Thailand Capital Gains Tax System ................................................................................... 124 Summary and Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 131 CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................................................................................... 133 Expert Interviews .................................................................................................................... 134 Expert Interviews – Discussion and Analysis ..................................................................... 134 Country Rules Comparison ................................................................................................. 138 Discussion and Analysis ......................................................................................................... 141 Estate and Gift Tax ............................................................................................................. 141 Synergy of the Estate, Capital Gains and Property Tax ...................................................... 162 Is the ET Justified in Thailand? .......................................................................................... 172 The Estate Tax and Corruption ........................................................................................... 176 Why a Change in Thailand’s CGT is Necessary ................................................................ 178 Why a Change in Thailand’s PT is Necessary .................................................................... 180 Summary and Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 183 CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................................................................ 185 Conclusions, Implications and Recommendations ................................................................. 185 Conclusion 1: Implementation of an Estate Tax in Thailand is justified ............................ 187 Conclusion 2: Thai Experts Believe an ET is Needed in Thailand..................................... 188 Conclusion 3: A Change in Thailand’s CGT System is Necessary .................................... 189 Conclusion 4: A Change in Thailand’s PT System is Required ......................................... 190 Conclusion 5: The Synergy of the ET, CGT and PT is Necessary in Order Help Reduce Corruption ........................................................................................................................... 191 Implications and Recommendations ....................................................................................... 192 Closing Remarks ..................................................................................................................... 196 v List of Tables Table 1: Thailand – Statistics .......................................................................................................