politics

58% of companies say conditions not yet ripe for consumption tax hike

17 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

17 Comments
Login to comment

Godan - you have it backwards. The DPJ was voted into power for its opposition to the LDPs proposal to increase consumption tax, above nearly all other issues.

The public is against the rise without government reform, and the DPJ promised in its manifesto when it was elected that it would prioritize reform, and not raise consumption tax during its first term.

Ozawa is one of many voices in the party, who echoes the public disappointment that the DPJ has betrayed the people who elected it and basically sided with the LDP on the LDPs most unpopular policy platform.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Only 58%?! Without a doubt Hashimoto Ryutaro's (and the LDP) bumping up of the consumption tax killed the brief improvement in the economy we were experiencing back in the day. And Japan Inc. hasn't really recovered since.

If the people knew their taxes were gonna be used for social services, I doubt this would be a problem. But few here (very few!) believe that this will be the case and that the geezers in charge will just waste this money on more bridges that aren't needed, repavement of roads that were fine the way they were, and concrete in general. God I wish I had a concrete company in Japan - that is where all the money is!!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The time indeed is never right to raise taxes, just as it's never right to rob Peter to pay Paul. Socialists love to promise to give away money to others, especially when it's someone else's money. Dependency on the dole is the scourge on any society. Eventually, the supply of those with money runs out.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

ThonTaddeo is right. The amount people will collect on pensions exceeds what they paid in, in most cases. They need to raise the age at which pensions are given out to 65...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

When will it ever be "right"? Noone likes consumption tax hikes!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Solution to the problem without tax hike before going into bankraptcy..

1)BOJ start printing tons of yen creating hyper inflations to make a yen worthless paper.. . 2)Close all Japanese banks without any warning. 3)Denomination of yen or creating another New Yen to make savings worthless.

How do they like that?.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

In other news, nearly 100% of people born after 1970 say the conditions are very, very ripe for a slight decrease in national pensions paid to retiring baby boomers who are richer than their descendants will ever be.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Globalwatcher channeling John Maynard Keynes. The ship has a huge gash running bow to stern below the waterline. No amount of bailing out will stop the ship from sinking, only slow it a little before it goes down by the head. All aboard the SS Social Program will likely perish.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Herve Nmn L'Eisa, you've got it. If I were you, I would keep Japanese savings elsewhere outside Japan. All Japanese Social Program are in peril. It is very amazing all Japanese including politicians without Economic backgrounds are still in denial. The day will come.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

All these questions about fairness will be a political obstacle to a sales tax. Many J-goverment reps like the idea of some kind of sales tax. In fact, the superiority of sales taxes is almost conventional wisdom these days. But there is a serious problems with the increase in sales tax plan. It wouldn't work in practice and, even if it did, it wouldn't raise enough money. The first problem has to do with the fact that people cheat on their taxes; they do it now, and they'd find ways to do it under a sales tax. With all of the taxes being lumped into one big sales tax, lots of people might be tempted to try evading it, with black markets springing up everywhere. J-goverment may have a hard time on how infuriating and confusing the sales tax system is for many ordinary Japanese. So the sales tax issue is certainly debatable

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They wanna increase sales tax to pay for the aging society, but the can give 7 billion bucks to bloody Myanmar! It doesn't make sense!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Globalwatcher, yes, that's right. The social welfare programs in this and every other developed nation are bankrupting them. One aspect of that is directly due to currency devaluation. Funds "contributed" thirty years ago have devalued severely. Doubling or tripling the sales tax won't even scratch the surface of current or future social entitlements, but it will certainly devastate the businesses and most consumers. It's suicide by sales tax.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When were the conditions ever right... Wasn't 1980 the last time Japan wasn't in some kind or recession? OH, no times were to good to raise tax then and it's too bad to raise them now.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

in other words, 58% of companies side with Ichiro Ozawa.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Public debt has to be addressed or we are all going to hell in a handbasket.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Ha ha, the conditions never will be right. It should have be raised to 20% 10 years ago. Too late now though.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites