Sorry to see these "ill conceived populist schemes" have begun to infect Thailand as well. As the middle class in Thailand grows, so will the governments desire to milk them for greater revenue. The truly wealthy have the means and connections to reduce their taxation to a mere fraction of their fair share, while the poor have little to no income or property to tax and actually require govt/taxpayer assistance to survive. That leaves the working middle class to foot the bill and it's going to get worse. Getting paid under the table along with barter/trade in the underground economy will become a much larger part of life as hungry governments around the world squeeze our pockets ever tighter.
I am as annoyed as anyone with these tax increases. Just when bikes got cheap... hmm.. yeah that's probably also why, as bike sales suddenly appeared on the radar. If you look at any other country, with the exception of the USA, big bikes are heavily taxed in most places. Most of the current taxes on bikes are import duties, not specifically targeted at bikes. Taxes between 5% and 20% on locally produced big bikes is not the end of the world.
You seem to employ the same logic as those gov tax guys - what's 6,000 baht when you can afford a 215,000 baht motorcycle?
