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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan''s government OKs corporate tax cut |
| 2010-12-17 |
| (KUNA) -- The Japanese government approved Thursday tax reform plans for the next fiscal year that will lower the corporate tax by five percentage points and introduce incentives for small businesses to boost country's sluggish growth. The tax reform plans, approved by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, also include the introduction of an environment tax to fight global warming. Based on the guidelines that were proposed by the Tax Commission, a government panel headed by Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the government will compile the budget for fiscal 2011starting next April 1 later this month. However, The infamous However... the new tax legislation still requires parliamentary approval. Japan's corporate tax rate currently stands at 40 percent, much higher than international standards of 25-30 percent, such as 28 percent in the UK. Kan said earlier this week this will create more jobs and attract greater investment in Japan. The five-point cut will result in a JPY 1.5 trillion (USD 18 billion) loss in tax revenue, according to the panel's estimate. To make up for reduced revenue from the corporate tax cut, the government will raise taxes on wealthy households and fuel, but it has yet to secure enough funding sources to implement the corporate tax cut. "It is hard to say we've secured adequate budgetary resources," Vice Finance Minister Fumihiko Igarashi told a news conference. Kan has repeatedly promised to keep a cap on new bond issuance of JPY 44.3 trillion (USD 536 billion) and a spending target of JPY 71 trillion (USD 843 billion) in the next fiscal year. The tax panel also proposed to introduce the environment tax in October next year, in a bid to curb use of high-carbon fuels to meet the government policy of reducing emissions by 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. The levies on fuels, including crude oil, natural gas and coal, will be raised as part of its environmental tax. The levy for petroleum will increase by 37 percent to JPY 2,800 (USD 33) per kiloliter in three stages through April 2015. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Ergo, the US now has the highest corporate tax rate. Nice work taxnutz. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-12-17 01:20 |