TAX MEASURES FOR CITY PLAN

Abstract

          Urbanization is a complex socioeconomic process that transforms the built environment, converting rural settlements into urban settlements, while shifting the spatial distribution of populations from rural to urban areas. Urbanization is considered an important factor in occupational lifestyle, culture, and behavior, bring change to demographics and social structure in urban and rural areas. Urbanization is shaped by spatial and urban planning as well as public and private investment in buildings and infrastructure. Currently, the world’s urban population is steadily increasing and continually urbanizing. For Thailand, City planning problems are not only lack of integration among government agencies, but also a rapid urban population growth which is a result of dislocation to relatively prosperous central business districts (CBDs) where the employment rates is higher than suburban areas. This also leads to a lack of jobs and housing imbalances, affecting household size and economic structure. This fast expansion of urban population is not relevant to slow study on city planning improvement by the government. Therefore, It causes problems in land use, public utilities, public facilities, infrastructure as well as transportations. The government has to bear the financial burdens for fulfilling civil requirements in short and long term. It is suggested that in case of Thailand, Tax measures should be used in parallel with legal measures to manage the city planning in more appropriate way. Suggested solutions include a city planning tax or town planning tax earmarked for urban development and renewal, along with other expenses for developing cities by providing public services according to municipal size and economic growth at different tax rates with respect to public revenue.