Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 11 - 17 [ECONOMY]

Against hefty tax burdens, 135K people throughout Japan all at once file tax returns

About 135,000 small business owners, workers, farmers, fishermen, and pensioners on March 13 in 550 locations throughout Japan all at once filed their income tax returns to respective tax offices as a way to show their opposition to heavy tax burdens.

This concerted action has annually taken place since 1970, called for by local Democratic Commerce and Industry Organizations (Minsho) and local Federation of Trade Unions (local Zenroren).

Protesting against the government plan to raise the consumption tax rate by 2% from the current 8% in two years, they massed in rallies and marched in demonstration toward local tax offices, calling for giving a resounding “No!” answer to the tax increase in the April nationwide local elections. Japanese Communist Party assemblypersons and candidates also participated in these events.

In Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward, about 200 self-employed workers wearing vests with the printed message “We won’t give in!” converged at a park before going to the tax office together. A 36-year-old man who runs a sash and door business with his parents said, “We are often pressed to cut prices and sometimes have to accept orders for a price less than the purchase price. I think the present economic policy which benefits only large corporations must be changed.”

Similar events also took place all over Japan, for example in the prefectures of Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa in areas around Tokyo.

In Maebashi City in Gunma, 362 people filed tax returns. A 48-year-old restaurant owner said, “The financial health of my restaurant has been bad shape because of soring purchase prices and the consumption tax rate which went up to 8% last year. I don’t want the sales tax rate to go up any further.”

In Ryugasaki City in Ibaraki, an organic rice farmer at a rally said, “Purchasing and maintaining farm equipment costs a lot and my farm is in the red. Many farmers have to give up farming if their agricultural machinery breaks down. We need government policies so that family farmers can maintain their farming operations.”