Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 29 - March 6 [POLITICS]

Only 0.06% of largest firms can receive R&D tax breaks

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Sasaki Kensho revealed that only 0.06% of the largest corporations in Japan are eligible to receive R&D (research and development) tax breaks. He pointed this fact out in a House of Representatives Finance Committee meeting on March 2.

Finance Minister Azumi Jun in February stated that the R&D tax breaks have been fully utilized.

Sasaki argued that this kind of tax break is available only to corporations in the black, and therefore, not applicable to small-and medium-sized enterprises because 73% are operating in the red. He pointed out that only 0.06 % of 2.62 million corporations can get R&D tax breaks.

Sasaki urged the government to end tax breaks to the privileged few large corporations and use this fund to provide R&D funding to small-and medium sized enterprises which would be more useful to stimulate the economy.