The END is near!

[Taro Toporific]

AP |washingtonpost.com : [SIZE="3"]Japan Cabinet OKs proposal to raise sales tax [/SIZE]


http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_15818/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=DkWQfQdF

[Cyka UchuuJin]

Someone please explain to me why everyone is whinging about this. The tax in the USA is 10%. EU member countries have a minimum 15% requirement. Denmark pays a fantastic 25% VAT (and that is in addition to the average 48% income tax!).

Japanese exports are going down thanks to the Chinese. The country is not exactly overflowing with natural resources. Tourism is not quite booming. Yet the country's debt keeps rising. Does anyone have a better solution for keeping the country from sinking further into debt?

[wagyl]

Someone please explain to me why everyone is whinging about this.

Not to mention that the cost of calculating and compiling the relevant tax returns, a cost which is imposed on businesses rather than on the tax authorities or the government, is likely to be more than the 5% the tax raises itself. Maybe things have got better with automation but I am pretty sure that this tax as it is costs too much to administer compared to what it actually brings in.

Next, the stupid tunnel and bridge tolls which cost more in wages for the guys collecting the tolls than the tolls themselves bring in. ETC has helped greatly on the major roads but most of the little prefectural toll authorities are lagging behind.

[Samurai_Jerk]

The tax in the USA is 10%.

There's no national sales tax in the US. It depends on the state and some states are zero while others are more than 10%.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

There's no national sales tax in the US. It depends on the state and some states are zero while others are more than 10%.

I stand corrected. I was basing that on a quick wikipedia check on N.America consumption/value added/sales tax.
What state has zero sales tax?

[Samurai_Jerk]

I stand corrected. I was basing that on a quick wikipedia check on N.America consumption/value added/sales tax.
What state has zero sales tax?

It's complicated.

[canman]

Cyka, I'm with you. The sales tax in Canada is anywhere from 14-19%, but I don't hear people going crazy about it. Why a rise here is the end of the earth is something I've been hearing for a long time. I also read a lot of people's comments that they want to see cut backs before tax increases, but that will never happen, so you either raise the sales tax, or you become Greece! It is not like people can just jump in their cars and drive south of the border for cheap goods, like Canadians do with the States. People are stuck here and will have to pay it. But it is for their own welfare, and pension system, I hope.

[Dreamy_Peach]

8% is cheap. VAT is easy to enforce but you as a consumer can choose how much money you want to spend. I can easily cut back, and probably will a little bit when it first comes in. Going to Europe hurts - if I couldn't claim it back 20% takes the piss on products and I would hardly buy anything.

However, I'm glad they're doing this rather than enforcing greater compliance or introducing greater rigour in collection of other taxes. That would really hurt and there would not optionality about it. Some economists have been advocating that. Thank god they've been ignored.

[wuchan]

One of the biggest problems is the amount the J-gov spends on defense (while hiding it from the local population).



why does a country that has a "self defense" force make the top 15?


Another problem is extreme inefficiency in government. There are way more tax loop holes here than the states. Anyone that does not do their own taxes here is totally fucking retarded, since I have been here I have got back about 90% of my tax payments. AND my japanese sucks.

[Coligny]

Another problem is extreme inefficiency in government. There are way more tax loop holes here than the states. Anyone that does not do their own taxes here is totally fucking retarded, since I have been here I have got back about 90% of my tax payments. AND my japanese sucks.

Care to explain ? (getting tired of paying for insane amount of gasoline to drive back and forth everytime there is a fuck up at the hospital and they need a doctor with a fooking clue... on reserve or not... so if there is a way to claim it as pro expenses...)

[Russell]

One of the biggest problems is the amount the J-gov spends on defense (while hiding it from the local population).



why does a country that has a "self defense" force make the top 15?

Because it has a large population with a large GDP. But as percentage of GDP, defense spending is only 1.0, which is very low.

Anyway, a certain amount of spending is necessary. This is the deal: Japan buys weapons from the US, and the US will protect it from attacks. That has worked up to now. I do not know how long that arrangement will continue, though.

Another problem is extreme inefficiency in government. There are way more tax loop holes here than the states. Anyone that does not do their own taxes here is totally fucking retarded, since I have been here I have got back about 90% of my tax payments. AND my japanese sucks.

I stand corrected. My employer withholds tax automatically. How can I do my taxes myself, and what can I deduce?

Please, tell me, because I would like to become a little less retarded.

[Russell]

8% is cheap. VAT is easy to enforce but you as a consumer can choose how much money you want to spend. I can easily cut back, and probably will a little bit when it first comes in. Going to Europe hurts - if I couldn't claim it back 20% takes the piss on products and I would hardly buy anything.

However, I'm glad they're doing this rather than enforcing greater compliance or introducing greater rigor in collection of other taxes. That would really hurt and there would not optionality about it. Some economists have been advocating that. Thank god they've been ignored.

What other taxes are you talking about? I wish I could avoid them (if I pay them in the first place).

[Russell]

Cyka, I'm with you. The sales tax in Canada is anywhere from 14-19%, but I don't hear people going crazy about it. Why a rise here is the end of the earth is something I've been hearing for a long time. I also read a lot of people's comments that they want to see cut backs before tax increases, but that will never happen, so you either raise the sales tax, or you become Greece!

Japan already has become like Greece. Actually worse...

It is not like people can just jump in their cars and drive south of the border for cheap goods, like Canadians do with the States. People are stuck here and will have to pay it. But it is for their own welfare, and pension system, I hope.

Probably too late to save the pension system for future generations.

[Netherlander]

I thought one of the biggest if not the biggest reason for the DPJ winning the previous election was because they promised to keep the sales tax as is, when the LDP were floating the idea of raising it just prior to the election. I guess the biggest issue is that the DPJ is going against their own central election promise. On a personal peev. Who the fuck elected Noda?!:mad2: I know, I know, the majority elected the party (DPJ), but, come on! The original leaders who were elected 2 years ago are gone. So here we are 2 years later with different politicians who are pushing the original LDP agenda. WTF?!:smashpc:

[Jack]

Japan already has become like Greece. Actually worse...
.

How so you shithead? Get your facts straight.

Japan has personal savings 3 times its GDP. It has a lifestyle a million times more affluent that Greeks.
What do you know?

[Cyka UchuuJin]

One of the biggest problems is the amount the J-gov spends on defense (while hiding it from the local population).

It's not cheap to buy all those fingerprint scanners and cameras to protect Japan from all those terrorists* trying to flood into Japan!

*[SIZE="2"]and by terrorists, of course they mean nigerian visa violators...[/SIZE]

[Jack]

It's not cheap to buy all those fingerprint scanners and cameras to protect Japan from all those terrorists* trying to flood into Japan!

*[SIZE="2"]and by terrorists, of course they mean nigerian visa violators...[/SIZE]

I don't know how stupid people can get on this forum. Those scanners and cameras probably ate away 0.00000000876% of the government's budget for one year.

[Russell]

How so you shithead? Get your facts straight.

Japan has personal savings 3 times its GDP. It has a lifestyle a million times more affluent that Greeks.
What do you know?

Greece Debt GDP ratio: 116.0
Japan Debt GDP ratio: 208.2
Zimbabwe Debt GDP ratio: 230.8

All 2011 figures.

[FG Lurker]

How so you shithead? Get your facts straight.

Japan has personal savings 3 times its GDP. It has a lifestyle a million times more affluent that Greeks.
What do you know?

Facts:

• Japan has a debt/GDP ratio of ~225%. (Numbers range from ~200% to ~250%.)
• 50% of Japan's official national budget is funded by bond sales.
• 100% of supplementary budgets (2 or 3 of them every year) are funded by bond sales.
• Interest rates on the J-gov't 10 year bond are ~1%, shorter term bonds are lower. Currently (at <=1% rates) 50% of tax revenues are used to pay interest on the debt.
• Japan's national pension is completely unfunded and functions identically to a Ponzi scheme.
• In 2011 over 23% of Japanese were 65 or older. By 2055 the forecast is that 40% of Japanese will be 65+.
• In JPY (not USD) Japan's GDP is less today than it was in 1996.
• The Nikkei 225 peaked at over 35000 in 1990 and sits at ~10000 today. It is far lower today than it was at any time during the "post bubble" 1990s.

[FG Lurker]

Because it has a large population with a large GDP. But as percentage of GDP, defense spending is only 1.0, which is very low.

Anyway, a certain amount of spending is necessary. This is the deal: Japan buys weapons from the US, and the US will protect it from attacks. That has worked up to now. I do not know how long that arrangement will continue, though.

Japanese defense spending is constitutionally limited to 1% of GDP.

I stand corrected. My employer withholds tax automatically. How can I do my taxes myself, and what can I deduce?

Please, tell me, because I would like to become a little less retarded.

Your employer also files your tax return every year on your behalf. Some employers are better at doing this than others, but you can probably get more back if you do it yourself -- depending on how much you are willing to do. If you apply to become a "blue form" tax payer (instead of the "white form") your basic income deduction rises to 650,000yen instead of 380,000yen and you are able to carry forward losses from year to year. Of course blue form filers get audited somewhat regularly and you have to keep proper accounting records. If you are making reasonable amounts of money it will be worth it to pay a decent accountant to do this for you. At over 20mil per year I'd say you will do much better having an accountant. At 10mil per year it may or may not be worth it, depending on how you earn your money. Less than 10mil yen you are probably better off sticking to the white form (but again it depends on how you earn your money.)

[Coligny]

I don't know how stupid people can get on this forum. Those scanners and cameras probably ate away 0.00000000876% of the government's budget for one year.

I have several theories aboot this.

You are contagious.

You are projecting your flaws onto others.

You are using the word "stupid" without proper understand of its meaning.

And the always popular foetal alcohol poisoning.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

I don't know how stupid people can get on this forum. Those scanners and cameras probably ate away 0.00000000876% of the government's budget for one year.

only smart people can understand sarcasm/irony/humour.

sorry, i'll dumb it down for you next time.

[Dreamy_Peach]

I had my own business for a couple of years. The stuff I could claim as pre-tax deductions was amazing. My Dad, who also has his own business back in the UK, was amazed at the stuff I was claiming as essential for my business. Stuff that he would never be able to get away with was being thrown in the list. Every meal was a "business meeting", and all kinds of other miscellaneous items.

I can imagine that every company is doing it to various degrees, though I've never really seen any analysis or assessment. An anecdotal comment I heard once at a conference was that nearly all private hospitals here deliberately never run a profit so practically never pay any taxes. I wonder how many other businesses are finding ways around the schemes.

[rooboy]

Someone please explain to me why everyone is whinging about this. The tax in the USA is 10%. EU member countries have a minimum 15% requirement. Denmark pays a fantastic 25% VAT (and that is in addition to the average 48% income tax!).

Japanese exports are going down thanks to the Chinese. The country is not exactly overflowing with natural resources. Tourism is not quite booming. Yet the country's debt keeps rising. Does anyone have a better solution for keeping the country from sinking further into debt?

This is the fucking case put simply for the ostriches of Nippon. Ms Cyka laid it down for you minus any bullshit. I like this cuntry, enjoy its lifestyle but fuck me, the irrationality of the J people outdoes the irrationality of just bout everybody but the loser Koreans.

The Japanese want more tourists - so they have insulting gaijin checks at the airport after visitors have just been thru Immi. And of course they treat em and us residents like potential terrorists by the fingerprinting bullshit tho Japan has never had a terrorist attack from gaijin but had J fuckwits release sarin gas and exported terrorists who shot up some airport counter back in the 70s in a gaijin cuntry.

The Japanese watch their cuntryside towns close, their schools close, their fucking silvers keep growing, their taxpayer base fucking plummet like thru a trapdoor - so refuse to have any kind of immigration policy that's actually implemented.

The Japanese govt etc bitch and gripe about pension shortfalls - so they let all the J fuckwits who don't pay it, refuse to pay it including their arsehole politicians keep going on not paying. Then they fucking wonder why they've got a hole in the fucking system.

I don't wanta pay more tax but it's inevitable in a cuntry and system w/the Japanese's fucked 'logic'.

[rooboy]

How so you shithead? Get your facts straight.

Japan has personal savings 3 times its GDP. It has a lifestyle a million times more affluent that Greeks.
What do you know?

Apart from the 'shithead' comment, I completely agree w/Jack. Greece is a fucking basketcase and has been for a long time according to Greeks I knew back at home. Why dya think there are so many Greeks who migrated elsewhere? The cuntrys been kinda fucked up for years.

Most of the Greeks in Greece are as good at saving as the fucking sponges back home in Oz who don't have to save apparently cause there's always more where it's come from - the salaries of people who actually do something. Or as good at saving as the average Yanks who apparently have saved the princely sum of 10,000 bucks for their 'retirement'. It's a fucking insult to compare the Japanese and other Asians w/irresponsible western cuntries' people when it comes to saving if you have the means to.

Greece also struggling w/'migrants' - ie self selecting ones without permission, big overflows in some areas with resultant problems of no money, no way to get it from the Greeks under austerity, and disease outbreaks. There's also a nasty HIV problem in Greece (yeah, I know Japan's is hidden) and the problem of junkies not being able to get clean needles now is gonna make a bigger problem. Since when do ya know of junkies so prevalent in Japan?

[Russell]

Apart from the 'shithead' comment, I completely agree w/Jack. Greece is a fucking basketcase and has been for a long time according to Greeks I knew back at home. Why dya think there are so many Greeks who migrated elsewhere? The cuntrys been kinda fucked up for years.

Most of the Greeks in Greece are as good at saving as the fucking sponges back home in Oz who don't have to save apparently cause there's always more where it's come from - the salaries of people who actually do something. Or as good at saving as the average Yanks who apparently have saved the princely sum of 10,000 bucks for their 'retirement'. It's a fucking insult to compare the Japanese and other Asians w/irresponsible western cuntries' people when it comes to saving if you have the means to.

Greece also struggling w/'migrants' - ie self selecting ones without permission, big overflows in some areas with resultant problems of no money, no way to get it from the Greeks under austerity, and disease outbreaks. There's also a nasty HIV problem in Greece (yeah, I know Japan's is hidden) and the problem of junkies not being able to get clean needles now is gonna make a bigger problem. Since when do ya know of junkies so prevalent in Japan?

Somehow I can never figure out where to start when replying to your posts, so I think I'll keep it like that this time too...

[Jack]

This is the fucking case put simply for the ostriches of Nippon. Ms Cyka laid it down for you minus any bullshit. I like this cuntry, enjoy its lifestyle but fuck me, the irrationality of the J people outdoes the irrationality of just bout everybody but the loser Koreans.

The Japanese want more tourists - so they have insulting gaijin checks at the airport after visitors have just been thru Immi. And of course they treat em and us residents like potential terrorists by the fingerprinting bullshit tho Japan has never had a terrorist attack from gaijin but had J fuckwits release sarin gas and exported terrorists who shot up some airport counter back in the 70s in a gaijin cuntry.

The Japanese watch their cuntryside towns close, their schools close, their fucking silvers keep growing, their taxpayer base fucking plummet like thru a trapdoor - so refuse to have any kind of immigration policy that's actually implemented.

The Japanese govt etc bitch and gripe about pension shortfalls - so they let all the J fuckwits who don't pay it, refuse to pay it including their arsehole politicians keep going on not paying. Then they fucking wonder why they've got a hole in the fucking system.

I don't wanta pay more tax but it's inevitable in a cuntry and system w/the Japanese's fucked 'logic'.

Don't know which country you are talking about but whenever I go through immigration and customs at Narita I get nothing but politeness from the officers.

[Jack]

Somehow I can never figure out where to start when replying to your posts, so I think I'll keep it like that this time too...

That's because you got nothing to say racist fuckwit.

[Russell]

That's because you got nothing to say racist fuckwit.

Apart from being boring, you have become quite predictable.

People have been banned from here for less.

You need a hobby...

[FG Lurker]

Apart from being boring, you have become quite predictable.

Jack's been predictable from the beginning...

People have been banned from here for less.

Naw, you gotta try pretty hard to get banned from FG.