Double pricing to end? For some?

 It would also mean that the idea of a complete reversal on the very questionable practice of double pricing has already been dismissed - if the word "expatriates" is used accurately in the article.
 

I'm not sure it means that.  It reads more like an extra paragraph on a separate issue that's been added into a related article.  I think more likely they would get rid of dual pricing for everybody, or nobody.  Not a half measure because that would create a lot of problems with staff not being able to differentiate between expats and tourists.

But as with most things here, there is always a lot of talk and most of it never happens.  At least they know it is wrong though!  That's a start.

Also it's a bit of a strange time to be talking about this sort of thing, when there aren't any tourists and aren't likely to be many for the rest of this year.

Yes, true.  I am not sure I would feel comfortable paying less than the tourists behind me.  That would sort of be condoning the discrimination.  And if they have already paid a tourist tax to get into the country, they shouldn't have to pay more again.

It seems they say it every year in some form or another yet little gets done.  So far we have only seen a consistent raising of prices for foreigners year over year so it feels unlikely to result in progress (especially without foreigners here currently in their normal numbers).  I would still challenge the DNP or Govt to provide a clear answer as to why they actually do it

I agree that if your on a work permit here, you should be entitled to paying less and or the Thai rate.  Last year only 600,000 thais paid income tax on earnings while 100% of all foreigners employed here had their income tax taken.  So it begs the question why they receive little to no benefit for paying income tax to Thailand?

Lastly, I am also in full agreement on the yearly pass, I believe it could be a great source of  potential income as well for the DNP to do so, especially for nature lovers on extended visas etc

I think it is a mindset problem and something that is nurtured here from a young age.  Most of us come from multicultural countries so for us discrimination on the basis of nationality or race is unthinkable.  Unless very old, we (defining 'we' as white westerners) have been exposed to this globalisation our entire lives, we went through school with people from many different cultures and we don't look at a person of e.g. asian or african heritage and think of them as different.  They live in e.g. UK so they are considered British by the vast majority, bar a few bigots.  But for your average Thai and particularly your average Thai politician/bureaucrat who is making these decisions (old/dinosaur), they were born and raised in an environment with pretty much only Thais in it.  When you combine that with the patriotic/nationalist nature of Thai society, where every Thai is indoctrinated to respect Thai institutions and Thai people, with little to no regard for anything foreign, it's no surprise that the end result is xenophobia, casual racism and just a disregard for foreigners in general.  We aren't equal to Thais in the mind of many Thais.  We are less important.  This attitude means politicians are more inclined to exploit us.  And if we don't like it, they don't think 'this is their home', they think 'they can go back to their country'.

It isn't as noticeable in the younger generations and no doubt by the middle of this century Thailand will be more or less the same as most of the western world, but it is a long road.  I think long-term the world would be a fairer and nicer place to live if we did away with countries, borders, governments and merged everything, not anarchy but centralisation.

I do think language plays a part too.  If we all shared the same language and there was no barrier in communication, integration (and therefore true acceptance rather than just toleration), would be a lot easier and faster.

Aside from all of that, Thai society does have this curious thing where richer people are expected to pay more.  I have seen events where high-ranking officials entrance fees have been higher than the general admission price.  Successful businesses are expected to give back to society with donations and public land-use projects e.g. parks.  The best doctors are asked to work in public hospitals one day a week.  etc etc.  So perhaps a lot of it does just boil down to the "foreigners have more money" thing that is ubiquitous here but that is more applicable to the 2-week millionaire tourists rather than expats.