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The story
Keidanren Chairman Yoshinobu Tsutsui pushed back at a press conference on the 7th against a proposal, being discussed by some in the ruling and opposition parties, to raise corporate taxes as an alternative funding source for cutting or abolishing the consumption tax on food, saying, “I cannot agree with that.” As debate widens over how to revise the consumption tax as a countermeasure to rising prices, the focus has shifted to where the funding should come from. On 5ch, Tsutsui’s remark sparked disagreement over Japan’s corporate and consumption tax rates relative to other OECD countries, with users also split on how to judge Keidanren’s stance itself.
Corporate Tax Hike “I Cannot Agree” — Keidanren Chairman Tsutsui Pushes Back on Consumption Tax Cut Alternative: Jiji.com
Jiji Press, Economic News Department, published September 7, 2026, 18:34
Keidanren Chairman Yoshinobu Tsutsui said at a press conference on the 7th that he “cannot agree” with a proposal, under discussion by some in the ruling and opposition parties, to raise corporate taxes as an alternative source of funding for cutting the consumption tax on food.
Source: jiji.com / Original article here
What people said
Stock options being taxed at 50% is fine.
That needs to be progressive, though.
70%–99% would be good.
Consumption tax: 33rd among 38 OECD countries
Japan has high corporate tax and very low consumption tax, so if anything's getting cut it should be corporate tax, and if anything's getting raised it should be consumption tax.
If that's Keidanren's logic, they're a laughingstock.
Denmark: 25% (food 25%)
Norway: 25% (food 15%)
Finland: 24% (food 14%)
Japan: 10% (food 8%)
Japan's consumption tax is already low, so there's no need to cut or abolish it.
That's because Nordic university tuition is free in return.
The use of the tax is clear, so it feels justified.
https://www.jcp.or.jp/web_download/2019/10/20191016_daimon2.pdf
Consumption tax revenue: +397 trillion yen, plus 130 trillion yen in export tax refunds
Corporate tax revenue: -298 trillion yen
Income tax revenue: -275 trillion yen
Corporate tax down, income tax down, consumption tax way up — that's the real story behind Japan's "lost 30-plus years" since 1989.
Spread this around — it just fuels the falling birthrate further. Most of that huge executive pay goes to foreign executives. [Carlos] Ghosn even had the company cover his overseas villa, his house, and his daughter's debutante ball expenses in Vienna. Other foreign executives are probably doing similar things.
"Heh heh heh… Echigoya, you're quite the rascal yourself, lol" (a classic period-drama line where a corrupt merchant and official scheme together)
On top of that, loss-making companies don't have to pay corporate tax at all, and there are plenty of ways to fudge things with expenses — so if you want to reliably collect tax, consumption tax is the best option.
Anyone calling for a corporate tax hike without understanding this is just an idiot.
They should expand labor-cost deductions so the money flows into wages. Back in the day, companies funneled money into salaries and capital investment specifically because they didn't want to pay corporate tax.
Well, at least it's easy to understand —
as long as the company profits, who cares about ordinary citizens.
And yet, when citizens who've gotten poorer start cutting back on spending, the media and companies turn around and blame consumers for "abandoning" whatever product. You're the ones who did this to them, lol.
Conversely, the consumption tax is extremely low.
Well, first things first, abolish social insurance premiums.
Do that before you even start talking about tax rates.
At the end of the day they're not really paying it anyway, since exporters get refunds. That's one root cause of treating labor costs as pure expense and never raising wages. Letting staffing agencies skim off the top unregulated is another root cause.
Exactly right.
I'd like them to start by cutting off old-age pensions for people without children.
Then maybe that whole position should just go extinct.
If you're so into this "funding source" debate, just restore the corporate tax rate for big companies that's been cut every single time consumption tax went up, and stop the export refunds too (i.e., abolish consumption tax).
On top of that, they're raking in huge profits from the weak yen.
But I guess you can't say that when you're Keidanren's (the big-business coalition's) lapdog…
By the way:
🐨 Tax cuts don't need a "funding source"
🐼 The only funding source is government bonds
🐻 Taxes were never a "funding source" to begin with
https://up.gc-img.ne…Tvfyj_ONLQh_207.jpeg
● Over 600 trillion yen in tax cuts for big corporations and the wealthy
● 12 trillion yen in refunds to exporters every year
● 27 trillion yen for civil servant salaries every year
That's the Mitarai way (a nod to former Keidanren chairman Fujio Mitarai).
Former Keidanren Chairman Mitarai said "foreign workers are far more capable than Japanese workers," favoring foreign hires while Japanese workers got passed over for full-time jobs and pushed into temp staffing or low-pay, long-hour work — exploited under the guise of "finding meaning in your job." Over these thirty years, only executive pay has kept climbing. From 100 million yen a year to 3 billion yen, and for foreign executives it's approaching the trillion-yen level. Meanwhile, Japanese workers' incomes have fallen even as their burden from utility bills and taxes has risen to 60%. Doesn't that seem off?
maybe that's the next thing they'll come after.
Before that, tax the dividends from stock options that foreign executives use as a tax dodge. A flat 20% no matter how many hundreds of millions in dividends is way too messed up.
Of the "lost 30 years," I'd say about 20 of them come down to Keidanren and companies like it.
Then again, when Abenomics cut corporate tax, all that happened was internal reserves piled up even more.
If they flee overseas, decent companies might actually get some room to operate.
Go ahead and flee already.
They can't flee. If they could, they'd have done it back when it was 70 yen to the dollar. I don't know about foreign-owned firms, but those guys don't pay taxes to begin with anyway.
Where would they even flee to? There's no country that would take these guys in.
Conversely, Japan's consumption tax is very low by international standards.
Exactly.
Tax experts have said consumption tax could reasonably go up to around 13%.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Around the consumption tax, calls have been growing among some in the ruling and opposition parties for tax cuts or reduced rates on food as a countermeasure to rising prices, putting the focus on where the funding for that would come from. Keidanren’s caution about raising corporate tax stems partly from the fact that corporate tax revenue is highly sensitive to economic swings, making it an unstable source of funding, and partly from concern that raising rates amid global competition to attract business could drive investment and jobs overseas. Within the thread, opinions clashed between those citing comparisons of OECD member countries’ tax rates to argue that “Japan’s corporate tax is already high and its consumption tax is low,” and those who saw that framing as a convenient set of numbers for Keidanren. However, the thread didn’t fully address the point that tax rates alone don’t capture the actual tax burden (effective rates, burden after deductions, etc.), which limits the value of simple international comparisons. It’s also worth noting that consumption tax revenue is less affected by the economy and its use as a social security funding source is easier to define clearly, whereas corporate tax isn’t levied on loss-making companies, so raising the rate doesn’t necessarily bring in the expected revenue.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and summaries of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Corporate Tax Hike “I Cannot Agree” — Keidanren Chairman Tsutsui Pushes Back on Consumption Tax Cut Alternative.”
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