Thai farmers are crying foul over the Revenue Department's proposed 0.75% tax to be levied on sales of paddy rice.

However, the department insisted the proposed tax is targeted only at merchants and middlemen who have dodged taxes and made profits from such sales.

An official at the Revenue Department explained that farmers are not actually required to pay taxes on paddy rice or milled rice sales. Rice millers are also exempt from value added tax when they sell milled rice products.