Japan Press Weekly

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2013 July 3 - 9 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

Corporate tax on fisheries’ cooperative in disaster-hit area

It has been found that a fishermen’s cooperative in the 3.11 disaster-hit region is being pressured to pay a corporate tax on fishing equipment it bought in its post-disaster reconstruction effort.

The cooperative, founded by 10 fishermen in May last year, used donations it received from a private body to purchase the necessary equipment in order to restart their business, such as nets, baskets, and a cold storage facility. It made 2 million yen in annual sales in its first year.

Meanwhile, the tax agency levies nearly 20 million yen in corporate taxes on the fishing equipment the cooperative bought.

On July 2, Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Kami Tomoko called on officials of the government’s fisheries and reconstruction agencies to find out if similar cases have occurred in the disaster-hit region, stressing that such unfair taxation discourages disaster victims from initiating reconstruction efforts.

She also demanded that the national government set up a new framework of support in accordance with the actual post-disaster conditions.

Past related article:
> Opposition increases against imposing tax on nuclear damage compensation [March 13, 2013]