Japan business lobby gives OK to scrap corporate tax cut

[tpsbmam]

Source: Reuters

Japan's top business lobby gave the government the green light to scrap a planned cut in the corporate tax rate and urged firms to look at shifting production to western Japan as the nation grapples with its worst crisis since World War Two.

Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, said the influential lobby would not fight the government if it decided to shelve a plan to lower the corporate tax rate, which at around 40 percent is among the highest in the industrialized world.

Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano suggested last week the government should reconsider the planned tax cut of 5 percentage points from April to prioritize spending on reconstruction and prevent the country's already massive debt pile from growing.

"I don't mind if the government skips cutting the corporate tax rate," Yonekura, who is also chairman of Sumitomo Chemical, told a regular briefing in Tokyo. "Instead I want the
government to move swiftly in its recovery efforts."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_keidanren

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Businesses are taxed at 40%! I wonder if they have many of their own loopholes or if the government actually taxes corporations. How novel!

[rfranklin]

1. Can you imagine any US corporate execs volunteering something like this?

Probably when hell freezes over.

[tridim]

4. They'd be figuring out how to profit on the disaster while demanding more bailout money.

[aquart]

2. They gave permission? How sporting. How patriotic.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. Where did you get that idea that they "gave their permission"?

The Keidanren had lobbied for a reduction in the corporate tax rate (which can actually be up to 69% when local taxes are included), but the head of the organization, Hiromasa Yonekura, said that given the need for Japan to recover from the disasters, it was fine with him if the tax rate was not reduced. The government has said that the 430 billion yen that corporations could have saved from the tax cuts will all be earmarked for disaster recovery efforts.

Here is the original article in Japanese:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/atmoney/news/20110329-OYT1T00121.htm

[Frisbee]

3. Had this happened in the USA...

the corporate lobbyist would be screaming that they need huge tax cuts to stimulate the economy. (and half those lobbyist would be working for companies that already get multimillion dollar refunds on multibillion dollar sales)

[Arctic Dave]

5. In a way it did with Katrina. What was the call?

We need to shelve Davis-Bacon and bring in Chinese labor. Remember.

[valerief]

6. +1000

[Frisbee]

7. Good memory and good point. n/t