April 18, 2010
The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Committee hosted a symposium on April 17 to discuss issues of food and agriculture in urban areas.
Held in Tokyo’s Tachikawa City, this event brought together more than 200 people, including agriculture committee members and local government workers.
JCP House of Councilors member Koike Akira, who was one of panelists, criticized the very high fixed property tax rate and inheritance tax rate imposed on agricultural lands within areas designated for urbanization. He called for a drastic revision of the tax system on farmlands.
Musashi University Economics Professor Goto Mitsuzo said that the current system is forcing farmers to sell their farmland to pay their inheritance tax. Local farmer Kasuya Hideo reported that he had sold a portion of his land in order to pay hundreds of millions of yen in inheritance tax.
Koike, who is also the JCP Policy Commission chair, revealed that the standards for supporting the price of rice proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan-led government are very low. He introduced the JCP agricultural policy, which calls for farmers’ income and price support systems to be improved with the aim of ensuring the development of a sustainable agriculture.
The symposium received a message of support from the JA-Tokyo (the Tokyo chapter of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives).
- Akahata, April 18, 2010
JCP House of Councilors member Koike Akira, who was one of panelists, criticized the very high fixed property tax rate and inheritance tax rate imposed on agricultural lands within areas designated for urbanization. He called for a drastic revision of the tax system on farmlands.
Musashi University Economics Professor Goto Mitsuzo said that the current system is forcing farmers to sell their farmland to pay their inheritance tax. Local farmer Kasuya Hideo reported that he had sold a portion of his land in order to pay hundreds of millions of yen in inheritance tax.
Koike, who is also the JCP Policy Commission chair, revealed that the standards for supporting the price of rice proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan-led government are very low. He introduced the JCP agricultural policy, which calls for farmers’ income and price support systems to be improved with the aim of ensuring the development of a sustainable agriculture.
The symposium received a message of support from the JA-Tokyo (the Tokyo chapter of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives).
- Akahata, April 18, 2010
