March 13, 2012
Japanese Communist Party parliamentarians on March 12 had talks with people representing various fields on ways to recover the sluggish economy in the Diet building.
More than 100 individuals and members of labor, smaller businesses, medical, social welfare, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, art and culture organizations took part in the event.
JCP Chair Shii explained the party’s proposal for improving social welfare programs and overcoming the financial crisis without a consumption tax hike. Economist Yanbe Yukio praised the proposal saying that it is a “concrete and realistic proposal based on the ‘ability to pay’ taxation principle.”
Nohgaku Performers’ Association Secretary General Shimizu Mihoko said that in the field of performing arts, the consumption tax cannot be shifted onto ticket sales prices. She criticized the government plan to raise the consumption tax rate from the current 5% to 10%, saying, “Reduction in the wasteful use of taxes must come first.”
Saeki Masataka, representing a tax accountants’ national organization reported that a small business owner, who has fallen behind in his consumption tax payment for 10 years, is required to pay 1 million yen plus 3 million yen in overdue tax.
Tohoku University professor emeritus Hino Shuitsu warned that the consumption tax hike plan will discourage small- and medium-sized business owners in the 3.11 disaster-affected areas.
The following are the policy prescriptions Shii presented:
The government should eliminate the wasteful budgetary expenditures for promoting unneeded large development projects and nuclear power generation, the so-called “sympathy” budget for the stationing of the U.S. forces in Japan, and governmental subsidies to political parties; and the government must revamp the highly regressive tax system that favors large corporations and the rich at the expense of the majority.
The government must implement a drastic expansion of social security programs and secure financial resources through tax revisions based on the “principle of ability to pay” and “progressive taxation”.
Rules and regulations should reflect the interests of the general public in which regular employment is the norm and the minimum wages increase; and the government pursues sound economic growth led by domestic demand by legislating that a portion of the 260 trillion yen in internal reserves large corporations have hoarded be used to benefit society at large.
More than 100 individuals and members of labor, smaller businesses, medical, social welfare, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, art and culture organizations took part in the event.
JCP Chair Shii explained the party’s proposal for improving social welfare programs and overcoming the financial crisis without a consumption tax hike. Economist Yanbe Yukio praised the proposal saying that it is a “concrete and realistic proposal based on the ‘ability to pay’ taxation principle.”
Nohgaku Performers’ Association Secretary General Shimizu Mihoko said that in the field of performing arts, the consumption tax cannot be shifted onto ticket sales prices. She criticized the government plan to raise the consumption tax rate from the current 5% to 10%, saying, “Reduction in the wasteful use of taxes must come first.”
Saeki Masataka, representing a tax accountants’ national organization reported that a small business owner, who has fallen behind in his consumption tax payment for 10 years, is required to pay 1 million yen plus 3 million yen in overdue tax.
Tohoku University professor emeritus Hino Shuitsu warned that the consumption tax hike plan will discourage small- and medium-sized business owners in the 3.11 disaster-affected areas.
The following are the policy prescriptions Shii presented:
The government should eliminate the wasteful budgetary expenditures for promoting unneeded large development projects and nuclear power generation, the so-called “sympathy” budget for the stationing of the U.S. forces in Japan, and governmental subsidies to political parties; and the government must revamp the highly regressive tax system that favors large corporations and the rich at the expense of the majority.
The government must implement a drastic expansion of social security programs and secure financial resources through tax revisions based on the “principle of ability to pay” and “progressive taxation”.
Rules and regulations should reflect the interests of the general public in which regular employment is the norm and the minimum wages increase; and the government pursues sound economic growth led by domestic demand by legislating that a portion of the 260 trillion yen in internal reserves large corporations have hoarded be used to benefit society at large.
