 195,000 people participate in actions opposing tax policy On March 11, four days before the deadline of the annual tax return, about 195,000 smaller retailers, construction workers, farmers, and fishers made representations to the tax offices throughout the nation in protest against heavy taxes. Rallies and demonstration marches in opposition to the government's heavy tax policy were organized in more than 590 cities and towns by a working committee that includes the Democratic Merchants and Manufacturers Association (Minsho). Participants in demonstrations shouted, "No to halving/abolishing the fixed-rate tax cuts; don't increase consumption tax; and foil adverse revision of the Constitution." Marching in the rain through Koto Ward in Tokyo with about 500 people, Inoue Shizuko said, "Recently, I see my husband, a carpenter, out of work for three weeks a month. While at home, he turns off the lights to reduce the electric bill." A participant in a petitioning to the National Tax Administration Agency complained that a tax office seized a dealer's uncollected accounts that forced him to give up his business and kill himself. A factory owner said, "How can I run my firm when my parent companies constantly cut prices for supplies and tax deductions are being reduced?" "The government must end its tax policy benefiting major corporations and the wealthy, and enact a taxpayers' bill of rights," they said. (end) |