10 billionaires received tax breaks amounting to 18.3 billion yen in FY 2006

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

10 billionaires received tax breaks amounting to 18.3 billion yen in FY 2006

Akahata has found that Japan’s 10 biggest income earners, who each made more than 10 billion yen in capital gains in fiscal 2006, received tax breaks of 18.3 billion yen thanks to capital gains tax breaks on securities sales, a measure which the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties and the opposition Democratic Party are seeking to further expand.

Akahata estimated the amounts of tax breaks for the ten wealthiest Japanese based on a National Tax Administration Agency survey and found that 1.93 percent of those who had capital gains from stocks sales earned more than 100 million yen in 2006. The total amount of tax breaks they received under the preferential securities tax measure is estimated at 142.2 billion yen in that year.

There were only ten people who earned more than 10 billion yen in capital gains from stocks deals. They account for 0.004 percent of such capital gains earners, and the amount of their tax breaks was 18.3 billion yen.

In 2003, the government lowered the capital gains tax rates on securities sales and dividends to 20 percent from 26 percent. It further reduced the rate to ten percent under the preferential securities tax system. This favorable treatment will be valid until the end of March 2008.

The LDP, Komei, and DPJ are unanimous in seeking to further extend such generous tax breaks for the highest income earners ostensibly to deal with the present financial crisis.

However, it will only help widen the gap between rich and poor instead of narrow it.

The Japanese Communist Party is insisting on a tax reform that ensures democratic redistribution of incomes, arguing that the present regressive tax system must be replaced by a progressive one. - Akahata, October 27, 2008