Japan opposition wants tobacco tax hike
Japan’s largest opposition party plans to hike tobacco taxes with the goal of halving the nation’s number of smokers if it wins the next election, the deputy head of the party’s tax team said on Wednesday.
“One of the big challenges is how to reduce the number of smokers and the tax system can be used for that purpose,” Motohisa Furukawa, vice chair of the Democratic Party’s tax committee, told Reuters.
“As long as it curbs smoking, our thinking is that it is OK even if tax revenue falls as a result.”
Media surveys show the Democratic Party’s chances of winning an election that must be held by October have been revived after the party picked a new leader this month.
Furukawa, a lower house lawmaker and former finance ministry bureaucrat, did not say how big the planned tax hike would be but said the level of the increase would be large enough to help halve the number of smokers.
Any tax increase would hurt earnings at Japan Tobacco which controls about 65 percent of the country’s tobacco market. The former state monopoly is still half owned by the government.
Furukawa also said Japan’s liquor taxes should be based on alcohol proof from the viewpoint of health promotion.
Under the current scheme, beer tax is determined in accordance with malt content with more tax imposed on more malt.
Beer makers such as Asahi Breweries and Kirin Holdings have rolled out various low-malt or malt-free beer taste drinks as a cheap alternative to regular beer.
“Drinks with the same alcohol proof should have the same tax imposed,” Furukawa said.
A Democratic victory would end more than five decades of almost unbroken Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rule and raise the possibility of breaking a political deadlock that has stymied policy formation for the past two years.
The Democrats have pledged to put consumer and worker interests ahead of corporations.
© Copyright: Guardian
Related posts:
- Japan Tobacco shares jump on report of smaller tax hike Shares of Japan Tobacco (2914.T) gained the most in 13...
- Will Japan Tobacco Profits Go Up in Smoke? Investors are worried that a new government in Tokyo could...
- Japan Tobacco January-March Group Net Profit Y31.5bn, Announce Price Hike TOKYO -Japan Tobacco Inc. (2914) reported Wednesday that it swung...
- Tobacco Firms Await Japan Tax Increase Could Hobble Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris and BAT as...
- Japan Considers to raise cigarette taxes to European levels TOKYO - Japan’s new administration is considering raising cigarette taxes...
- Tobacco tax hike would hit hard Convenience stores and tobacco shops bristled Wednesday at attempts to...
- Proposal to Hike Cigarette Tax Shocks Illinois Smokers Illinois legislators will debate over the provisions of the new...
- No Tax-Hike Bills for Special Session SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico lawmakers who want tax...
Tobacco-Facts ads
Recent Comments