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

670 billion yen in tax breaks for top 10 companies

Japanese blue-chip companies are enjoying extremely generous tax breaks.

Based on the declared corporate income ranking for 2004 published on August 25 by Teikoku Databank, Ltd, a private credit research company, Akahata found that top ten corporations paid about 670-billion yen less in corporate taxes than they paid in 1986.

The JCP estimates that the top two income corporations, Toyota Motor Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., alone received 259.5 billion yen in tax breaks. This is extraordinary at a time when the government is going to hold down next year's increase in payments of costs for social services by 220 billion yen.

The declared income of the top ten firms in 2004 was about 3.5 trillion yen, and the amount of corporate taxes they paid was about 1.6 trillion yen.

Until 1986 the corporate tax rate had been increased, but since 1987 they have been reduced yearly. Consequently, the amount of corporate taxes for 2004 decreased by 30 percent compared to 1986. -- Akahata, August 26, 2005