To curb falls in investor confidence and possible national credit ratings downgrades, the Japanese Government will begin discussion on the feasibility of increasing several tax rates, including income, corporate and consumption taxes. Speaking at a press conference on February 13th, Naoto Kan, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Japan, stated that he will be initiating a “full-fledged debate” on taxes in March, and hopes to have a concise tax reform plan completed by June. During the conference indications were given that income ... Read More

On December 22nd, the Japanese Government revealed its tax reform plan for the fiscal year beginning April 1st, 2010. The newly published tax guidelines are aimed at decreasing Japan's public debt figure, which is currently at an approximated 180 percent of GDP. In order to achieve the goal, the tax plan will attempt to support Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's earlier announced intentions of maintaining Japanese Government Bond issuance at JPY44 trillion (USD483 billion). The most controversial announcement of the tax reform is replacing ... Read More