“On a scale of 1-10, how well do you think your government spends your tax dollars?” read a sign on a pop-up campaign in Mega Bangna. 
 
Turns out a whole lot of you would say “1.” 
 
The pop-up was hosted by financial planning firm iTAX Thailand from Nov 11-14 at Mega Bangna as part of their Tax Reduction Festival 2021, which sought to inform Thai taxpayers about what they can deduct from their taxes. 
 
Participants were given colorful plastic balls to cast their votes. They were instructed to drop the ball in chute 1-10 to signify how effectively they thought the Thai government spends your tax money. 
 
At the end of the campaign, a rainbow of plastic balls flowed out of chute 1. 
 
In fact, so many balls were placed in chute 1 that they had to be laid out on the carpet in front of it, because they wouldn’t fit within the container.
 

 
Taxes are a hot topic here, of course—specifically, how tax money is spent.
 
From submarines to the riot control equipment the police have turned on pro-democracy protesters, the government has made several headline-grabbing, high-dollar purchases in recent years that have left many Thai citizens wondering: “what the hell are you spending my tax money on?”
 
In other words, the results of this informal survey are not surprising at all.