Japan Press Weekly

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2012 August 15 - 21 [FINANCE]

Average worker has same tax burden rate as the rich

Employers who receive more than 100 million yen a year in remuneration pay almost the same ratio in taxes and social insurance premiums as average wage-earners pay, Akahata estimates.

The FY2011 asset securities report shows that about 350 persons among major corporate executives had been paid more than 100 million yen in annual salary. The ratio of tax and insurance burdens for some executives to their yearly salaries stayed at only 19%-20%, while the ratio for average workers was 20.1%.

For example, Suzuki Toshifumi, Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. chairman and CEO, earned 461.9 million yen. An Akahata estimate, however, shows that he paid 87.87 million yen in taxes and social security, amounting to only 19% of what he received.

The annual income of Toyoda Akio, president of Toyota Motor, was about 365 million yen. He paid an estimated 76.54 million yen in taxes and social security, which accounts for 21% of his income.

Meanwhile, the FY2011 family budget report shows that an average householder of working families earned 4.92 million yen as his/her yearly income. They paid 380,000 yen in income and residential taxes, plus 610,000 yen in social insurance premiums, totaling 990,000 yen in the yearly burden. The ratio of the burden to their income was 21%, a rate similar to the forenamed high-income employers.

The Japanese Communist Party has argued that the government should review the present tax system only favoring rich people whose annual earnings are more than 100 million yen, and has called for them to pay their appropriate share in tax and welfare contributions.