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© KYODOKishida says policies necessary; doesn't care what names he's called
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JeffLee
Reuters reported late last year that only 6% of companies will be subject to a new tax hike. How about collecting from the other 94% if you're so desperate for revenue?
Then there's the likes of Softbank, which paid zero tax after reporting the highest profits in Japanese history last year. Maybe the public wouldn't so cynical of this thin-skinned government if it didn't constantly protect the super wealthy while soaking middle-income working people? Just a thought!
Asiaman7
That’s 増税メガネ, or “zouzei megane.”
We could call him “debt increase glasses” too.
plasticmonkey
Impose burdens on the public to relieve burdens on the public. These people couldn’t be more disingenuous.
And please stop that crap about “tackling Japan’s declining birthrate”. It’s not going to change. Why doesn’t the LDP focus on improving people’s standard of living instead.
Rakuraku
Instead of shoring up the economy he is putting it into a deeper hole everyday.
Japan has the largest public debt to GDP ratio in the world after Venezuela. Except massive tax hikes in the coming years either directly or indirectly through high or very high inflation.
An analyst from Deutsche Bank send a report to customers yesterday saying « The Japanese yen's underlying forces are so weak the currency is in the 'same league' as the Argentine peso and Turkish lira »
I think a bit exaggerated at this stage but may well be on the way.
Speed
His original platform for getting elected initially was his promise to raise taxes on the richest companies and individuals to help the middle class and poor.
He did an about face about two months into his term.
Since then, he's been raising taxes for everyone for lots of different things he wants to fund and accomplish.
It's no wonder they call him "Tax Hike Glasses".
Asiaman7
@goldnugget
Why?
factchecker
@goldnugget soon, 1 USD = 200JPY... I hope!
Why?
He'd be a tourist
aaronagstring
If so, can we write them down here? In no uncertain terms? Without fear of retribution? Or would that be considered “bullying” or online “trolling”?
Jind
Japan is NOT in NATO and why does he have to increase the defense spending to 2% like NATO countries? A lot of NATO countries do not spend 2% of budget on defense.
Yubaru
Oh he cares alright, with polling numbers dropping through the floor he cares. He's not and never will be the teflon man, and he knows it, much as he tries to act otherwise. The teflon man would never even have mentioned it, he didnt care!
Stephen Chin
Editor of Japan Today, please note:
"have started called him" is incorrect English grammar.
it should be "have started calling him..."
Moderator: Thanks.
Rakuraku
hakuebisuToday 08:45 am JST
As for foreign exchange reserves to defend the JPY there are large but not unlimited. In addition analyst usually say that it would be risky to use more than 10% to 20%. So it is not that much.
I hope we will avoid a very serious crisis but in the best of case we will have a prolonged period of strong stagflation.
And yes the comparaison to the Turkish lira or Argentina pesos is exaggerated and use to generate commissions from their customers by selling them something but the dynamic is similar.
Meiyouwenti
It seems like the PM really hates the nickname “tax hike glasses.” People are calling him names because he’s not doing what he should be doing. The new economic package is too small and too late. 40,000 yen income tax cut for each person next June? Give me a break.
dbsaiya
He and his administration got beat up pretty bad during the diet sessions this past week, and he's still going to push through his agenda.
dan
He will do whatever he can to make big corporations richer while impoverishing the working classes.
kaimycahl
It's a tough job being the top guy to run a country being in that position you are not going to please everyone so you have to have tough skin. Every country with big economies now are suffering and the people are feeling the pinch in their finances. The problem is the people point fingers at the guy at the top he is only one guy surround by the best people he thinks could help guide his administration. What the people fail to realize is LDP or whatever group is in power won't change things. The power comes from the LARGE CORPORATIONS who pay NO TAXES and make huge profits from their overseas subsidiaries they get large tax breaks and the government pass those losses off to the people. If the corporations get taxed they threatened to move their companies or reduce hiring. The people should do what the companies do form large unions, and threaten to strike. If no one shows up to work NOTHING GETS DONE, these large companies will lose millions, the average minimum wage for a person in the US working at McDonalds makes $20.00 per hour that is almost more than the average salaryman hourly wage. If the Japanese people want to be heard and if they want change they need to become stronger in voice and stop being silent. The same does not work all the time you can't stay quiet, I am not saying riot but you can force change by showing a force and that is if everyone was on the same page and shut the country down for TWO DAYS the government and these large companies will listen and perhaps give the people what they want which is a basic living wage.
deanzaZZR
The paragraph is full of so many contradictions it makes me laugh.
antifun
Bragging about the bare minimum he needs to do as a rank and file bureaucrat, let alone a prime minister. And where is that belief stemming from? How about being data-driven, taking examples from other countries, not repeating the same old mistakes of the past?
Kazuaki Shimazaki
It's a hard question, but the job of being representative is not to be a populist swaying with every public whim. Sometimes, governments need to buckle down and get the unpopular done.
titin
The tax brackets as they are defined are already terrible for low- and middle-income earners (say up to 10 million yen).
Tax rates should be 0%~15% (max) for up to 10 million, and then up to 50% for high-income. Having an entire bracket 9M-18M and 18M-40M with a 7% difference makes me wonder who is really going to benefit from this. Tax 9M-18M at 30% and 18M-30M at 40% and 40M+ at 55%.
Of course this would make him very unpopular among some rich constituents.
Martimurano
""Now is the time to focus on the economy" said Mr Kishida.....
*Well, he's certainly going to need those tax-hike glasses for this task.Kingz
The LDP does what they want because there’s no noticeable alternative to their dominance in parliament and because Japanese people are generally disinterested in politics, as an obvious indicator, Kishida’s approval rating stands at 33% according to a TV Tokyo weekend survey, those respondents do not even account for up to 3% of Japan’s entire population, so it makes sense that he’d say he doesn’t care about the nicknames especially when you consider the ages of those that actually make these comments on social media and what they normally complain about, complaints like “the smiles of workers in this particular establishment was not very welcoming” completely disregarding the fact that their workers are heavily overworked, severely underpaid, and are going through a long list of mental health issues that they can’t resolve easily due to their highly constricted time for social interactions. Before the government can start talking about resolving issues related to childbirth or the economy, underlying issues need to be addressed but alas the government has long lost touch with the reality of its people.
deanzaZZR
@goldnugget He could be in my situation, currently earning dollars in the US and plans to retire in Japan.
u_s__reamer
Power breeds arrogance - nobody needs glasses to see through Kishida with his stagey LDP "strongman" shtick.
GBR48
2% of GDP is expected for US-allied defence or Washington gets peeved.
quote: a dovish moderate.
Oh for one of those. We had populist liars and fantasists and every aspect of our country has been trashed.
Would you prefer the opposite of a dovish moderate as Japanese PM? Someone like Hideki Tojo? Be careful what you wish for.
ShareSage
If 200JPY, Bye BYE, Ford GM VW
itsonlyrocknroll
I think Prime Minister Fumio Kishida needs to stamp his leadership authority on his cabinet and government in general.
Priority policy areas, debt management, depopulation, defense, child care, social welfare in a increasingly ageing society, all missing confident reforms, restructuring, has anyone found that third arrow yet?
211/6 yen to the pound £, 2006, I brought a laptop from I can't remember, 18,, my first new laptop a Sony, heavy, thought about a trolly to get it out of the store, in comparison to today waif like products.
Huge saving, but more to the point the huge store was busy with customers locals/foreigners with money to spend. The Japanese manufactured top spec versions
Fredrik
He doesn't care what the people think of him? Did he forget that he acts as a representative of the people? So, now he is above the people?
thelonius
Meh
When was the last time anyone from the LDP actually cared what the public thinks.
aaronagstring
This is true. But this government, like so many LDP governments of the past (and in the future no doubt), are not getting anything done, popular or otherwise. Except lining their pockets, allegedly.
Tim Sullivan
Japanese friends (who unlike me can vote) agree with me that he is absolutely useless. No new ideas -- just keep printing yen ...
kurisupisu
The ordinary Japanese person is certainly facing many hardships.
Over 30 years I have seen the Japanese progressively poorer.
The LDP must share a large part of the blame.
xin xin
Japan has managed its affairs well, in the context of a fast ageing society. Much better than some other countries with problems not half as bad. Japanese citizens are responsible for that decline too, just like elsewhere. My generation and my parents' were poorer yet we raised many more babies.
kohakuebisu
I'm not a trader, but shorting Japanese government bonds in expectation of the yen or government's collapse is apparently known as the "widowmaker trade". Something hundreds have lost money trying to do over the past twenty or thirty years.
Japan owes the debt to itself and has vast USD reserves, more than anyone else including the Chinese. Neither of these factors applies to Argentina or Turkey.
As for Kishida, its just more of the same. As Roger "Brexit" Daltrey sang, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". You must be very naive if you think an LDP politican means anything when they can talk of "structural reform". I see Japan as in managed decline. Its crappy, but at least its better than blame the poor, blame immigrants, neoliberal carpetbaggers we see in other countries with foodbanks/foodstamps, heat or eat, huge amounts of personal debt, and half your salary to a landlord.
Abe234
As I’ve always said we are on track to see sales tax probably hit 20% ish in the next 10 years. Defence, pensions, childcare,falling population and a debt that’s so big the yen would need to weaken to 200+ yen to service that debt repayments all put pressure on funds.
roninroshi
Financial mistake #1 the massive cash infusion to Zelensky!
wolfshine
About the only thing this guy has accomplished is allowing tourism to resume, something his constituents aren't even grateful for. No one has any confidence in him, and he will not be around for much longer.
The country needs somebody younger and more energetic. The government needs to be doing more to make the economy more dynamic and attract foreign investment. You can't have an economy that runs entirely on Sumitomo, that's just not sustainable.
shogun36
Good to know, you useless embezzling fraud.
Abe234
RoyToday 09:25 am JST
ya think. Well, I suppose it also helps push jobs overseas. and it didn't help. Yes, it was decades, but we've been in debt for decades too.
But we can agree the debt has gone up and up and have taxes. And how do we expect Japan to reduce its debt? tax its way out of debt from the ordinary man. Some balance is required and if that means a weaker yen to help exporters profits when they repatriate those dollars. I'm ok with that. It's Not WEAK YEN BAD STRONG YEN GOOD. But then again it does depend on the currency we are used to...I was happy with 225 yen for my currency when I was bringing them to Japan. It's great for tourism too. So, It's not a black-and-white answer. Then again I was happy with deflation as I didn't think I was getting poorer than all the other countries with inflation.(which IMHO is just there to reduce the debt as a percentage of GDP) and then rinse and repeat by governments. It's good for the gov to reduce its debt, while everyone else in the street tries to live within budget.
umbrella
200 yen to the Dollar? It's inevitable.
Everybody I know has for years kept all funds in US Dollars, Swiss Francs and Gold. Nobody, absolutely nobody keeps anything in the poison basket case yen, apart from everyday needs.
ShareSage
And if that money is used to protect Japan, it is worth every yen.
Spitfire
That is the exact problem in Japan.
The politicians think that the population is here to serve them and not the other way around.
Incredibly politicians have one task only and that is to improve the lives of the populace.
That concept is truly lost on the silver-spooned entitled oyaji of the ruling class.
nosuke
US Military on the bases pay their employees civilian or not and including the us embassy workers in dollars. So why not?
Abe234
indigoToday
could be a possibility. Debt needs to be funded, as do all the other projects and with a fallen population increases in financial burdens we can tax our way out of the problem and the only other way is to let inflation reduce the value of that debt as a % of GDP. Over a decade or so.So this could help, as profits are repatriated.
interesting how everyone wants to down click any suggestions of weakening the yen a bit further which helps exporters. Have we forgotten when Japan inc was over 200 yen per dollar years ago? And what happened when Japan signed up to strengthen the yen? Economy tanked and everyone started buying Chinese junk.
indigo
soon, 1 USD = 200JPY...
Elvis is here
Even immature and regressive? He's a tough cookie!!!
Dee
Exchange rate at 200 yen would be great for exporting. It will happen next year.
sakurasuki
What mattes those policies can justified for budget to be spent, no matter what is the actual end goal of those policies.
goldnugget
I hope!