politics

Government backtracks on tobacco tax hike

35 Comments

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has decided to shelve plans to introduce a tax increase on tobacco after pressure from opposition parties over the issue.

Last month, the government said a tobacco tax hike would be part of an overall tax increase plan to fund reconstruction work in the Tohoku region. The proposal called for raising the price of tobacco with a 2-yen tax per cigarette from around this time next year, as well as a recommendation that the government sell its stake in Japan Tobacco.

However, the proposal has faced stiff opposition from the opposition parties, Fuji TV reported.

On Thursday night, DJP policy affairs chief Seiji Maehara announced that the proposed tobacco tax hike would be shelved because the proposal "was drafted without proper consultation or discussion with the opposition parties. We would like to include them in the decision-making process," he was quoted as saying by Fuji.

Some analysts have suggested the backtrack may be due to the fact that the opposition controls the upper house. To pass any bill, the DPJ requires the backing of the Liberal Democratic Party, whose constituency includes tobacco growers, and the second biggest opposition New Komeito Party, who also resist tobacco tax hikes.

Cabinet ministers and Democratic Party executives last month agreed on a proposal to raise the tobacco tax in October 2012, income taxes from January 2013 and residential taxes from June 2014. With the tobacco tax increase included, tax revenues were projected to be around 2.2 trillion yen.

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35 Comments
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Wow, protect that nasty legal DRUG but of course increase the taxes on EVERYTHING else.. So sick and tired of this damn country being run by greasy headed old dry men... Can't they die already?!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Stupid fickle DPJ. Not one bit surprised!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

the proposal “was drafted without proper consultation or discussion with the opposition parties. We would like to include them in the decision-making process,” .... the backtrack may be due to the fact that the opposition controls the upper house. To pass any bill, the DPJ requires the backing of the Liberal Democratic Party, whose constituency includes tobacco growers

So once again the LDP is calling the shots and doing what suits them, not what's best for the country. I wish they would all crawl into a box under the floorboards of an unoccupied house in Tokyo and stay there for the next 60 years.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

"as well as a recommendation that the government sell its stake in Japan Tobacco" does the back track on Tax also include not selling its stake in JT ????. This wasn't mentioned in the article.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@cleo

So once again the LDP is calling the shots and doing what suits them, not what's best for the country. I wish they would all crawl into a box under the floorboards of an unoccupied house in Tokyo and stay there for the next 60 years.

My sentiments exactly!!..Well said, Cleo. (^_^)

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I wish they would all crawl into a box under the floorboards of an unoccupied house in Tokyo and stay there for the next 60 years.

Hold on a minute, Cleo -- if they do that, we taxpayers will be paying pension money to them for all those years while we wait for the city hall bureaucrats to notice how unusual it is to have 120-year-old pensioners who never leave their homes!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

This decision pisses me off so much! Force it through the Upper House! If the LDP don't like it tough, but it does nothing but help the country. It raises badly needed tax money, it discourages young people from smoking, it shows that Japan has joined the world's ranks in trying to curb smoking for the good of all its citizens. But now they kowtow to the LDP as usual.Sounds a lot like the Dems in the US always listening to the Republican minority.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Basically the LDP is pandering to the tobacco industry and the DPJ doesn't have the b@lls to put up a fight.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Another reason for the backtrack in the DPJ might be that PM Noda is a two pack a day smoker. I am sure that he doesn't want to pay an extra 80 yen per day for smokes. LMFAO. What a bunch of self-serving knuckleheads.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Taxing addicts that will pay anything is not the way to beat healthcare costs. This is extorsion from an already troubled minority. Think if there is anything you do that is unhealthy, and could you imagine being taxed for it? How about being overweight? Like fastfood or the occasional coke? If this was to go through there would be no stopping the government on taxing people for anything "deemed" unhealthy. It's already happening in North America and this takes away from a consumer's right to choose. What they need to do is remove all images of tobacco from TV, billboards, and vending machines. Next, outlaw smoking in public areas (all and any). Third, make packages bland and with massive and grotesque warnings. Fourth, move tobacco products from sight. Fifth raise the fines (and enforce them) on shops that sell to minors with the ultimate penalty being to lose their tobacco and alcohol license if they sell to minors and are caught. There are other ways to get this goal accomplished (the goal is to get people to stop smoking, right?) rather than the easy cash grab from people that already have enough problems. It makes no sense to tax people for being unhealthy. If that is the case I know a certain aged range of people that flood hospitals daily.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

ThonTaddeo - I think in the long run, even that would be better (and cheaper) for the country than to have them sitting in the Diet clogging up the works.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So what will be taxed to replace the tobacco hike?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

They can't even get a 2-yen tax hike though? Good luck getting those income and consumption tax hikes through in the next few years! God help the poor people who retire in Japan and think there will be a pension/health care waiting for them in 10-20 years! Selfish, elderly Japanese men - who are cowards in terms of moving with the times - have ruined Japan for all future generations.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Raise the taxes on cigarettes, remove all taxes on nicotine gum and patches.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

lobbyists win!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Socialized tobacco makes no since to me, should any government be involve in something thats only economic advantage is more health issues. Just sell japan tobacco and tax it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Well, maybe that tax wasn't such a great idea. I don't like cigarettes. They ruin the health of small children through second hand smoke. However, if we start taxing the heck out of them again, what's to stop the taxing the heck out of coffee, or tea, or alcohol? I'm sure there are people who'd be pretty upset with that. I think they saw where this was headed, and decided it would be prudent and safer to back off. Not a bad idea, for a cabinet just trying keep the tides down and pay all these bills. There will be others in future who can fight that battle, but not today. And im sure they can find away to empty the piggy bank another way. Hang in there Noda. Benefit of the doubt is need on this one I think. And the LDP is in this thing too, they know it, if they slow things down, they will just hurt themselves. The people always come first, without the people, there are no leaders. Peace.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

So once again the LDP is calling the shots and doing what suits them, not what's best for the country. I wish they would all crawl into a box under the floorboards of an unoccupied house in Tokyo and stay there for the next 60 years.

Let's hope that there are 50 year old bottles under that house.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Back on topic please.

Chris- we all talking about 2 yen, its useless currency wothe absolutely nothing, its a good idea to increase the tax on tobacco.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

smokers die a horrible lingering death. taxpayers lose as national health insurance has to fork over truckloads of cash for the final ending of these poor devils. Agree with many comments here and P.Smash especially. Sigh. Still a long way to go, folks. Keep complaining to change the social acceptance from the ground up...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Legislation that benefits the whole country is torpedoed by an extremely shortsighted and uncooperative LDP. What a shame. I hope many (non smokers and addicts alike) will remember this.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Tobacco tax hikes should be used to pay for the health costs of smoking and for everyone else to get their clothes and hair washed every time they go out.

The hikes WILL be used for the health costs of smoking, although perhaps indirecltly. The extra revenue leaves more money to fund other disasters. Concerning washing hair and clothes, I'd advise staying away from smokers' hot spots. I decided that 20 or so years ago.

Coffee and tea do not pose a risk to bystanders like tobacco does. Neither does alcohol.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If you're going to shelve the tobacco tax, shelve the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare too.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Shelve all those tax raises.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If the goal of the tax increase is to reduce the number of smokers, then by all means go for it. If the goal is to increase tax revenues, history has shown that increase in tax resulted in lower tax revenues. I'm afraid LDP is right about this issue.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

This was an idea that made so much sense that only the parliament and bureaucracy of Japan could reject it. But the government remains heavily invested in JT, making it a merchant of death.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

But let me guess... the other tax hikes proposed will still go into effect? only the tobacco tax hike suggested is getting the axe?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

the only way to get nicotine addicts to stop is to make it too expensive for them to smoke. Anything else is useless. Smokers know the risks of cancer, the second hand smoke threat they pose, how they stink up a room, that they throw their used cigs on the street everywhere, and on and on. Yet they continue to smoke anyway.

The DPJ is gutless on this matter. Its a huge win for public health and a great revenue source from those that are a huge drain on society anyway.

No doubt Noda being a addict has caused the policy to be reversed. When he is out next fall maybe someone not addicted to nicotine will take over and do what is right for Japan. The mayor of NYC has got the formula down to a science for stopping smoking, in some parts of NYC smoking is below 10 percent of the area population. Incredible. He has some guts while Noda is a soon to be lung cancer patient loser.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I really despair for this country. How can anything positive and beneficial get passed with such a political set up? I wonder if any of the 'old boys' even know what a day in the life of Joe Watanabe is like?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

New Komeito, the Socially responsible party (according to them) supported this??? What would Budda make of this

0 ( +0 / -0 )

We’ve been told for years secondhand smoke is deadly dangerous but we are here alive and there are no deaths from it, not even close.

It’s an exaggerated, created science all its own. It’s propaganda - fallacies created to have justifications for a new round of tobacco prohibition. I am for freedom, freedom for all people to have their own place in this world, including the smokers!

Tobacco smoke maybe an irritant to some, but that’s about it. Its chemical makeup has been so exaggerated by tobacco control pundits, it’s insanity. Only 6 percent of tobacco smoke constitutes those 7,000 theorized and identified components of the smoke. Theorized is the word, since the claimed chemicals are themselves so small they can barely be detected. Nanograms, femtograms are the sizes of what can be detected so they theorize the rest. Four percent is carbon monoxide, while nearly 90 percent constitutes ordinary atmospheric air! These figures come from the surgeon general’s report in 1989.

Oh the pundits may bring up benzene in tobacco smoke. The average cigarette produces roughly 300 micrograms of benzene (1986 report of the surgeon general. p.130) 0.3 micrograms - 300 nanograms.

Benzene is normally found in fruits, fish, vegetables, nuts, dairy products, beverages and eggs. The National Cancer Institute estimates that an individual may safely ingest up to 250 micrograms in their food per day, every single day of the year.

Thus, the “safe” exposure to benzene from one day of a normal diet is roughly equal to the exposure experienced by a nonsmoker sharing an airspace with smokers for over 750 hours.

It’s a political movement and it was never about health. ...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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