The Tax Commission’s Sub－Committee on Fundamental Issues met on May 16th 2003.
| The Tax Commission’s Sub－Committee on Fundamental Issues met on May 16th 2003. |
1. | To open the meeting, Ministry of Finance personnel made a report on the scheme to revitalize the securities market. | |
2. | Ministry of Finance personnel reported on measures to respond to environmental problems, followed by discussion by the Sub-Committee: | |
| On the basis of the necessity of making taxation a concrete part of environmental policy, it is necessary to think about the relationship between environmental taxation and overall environmental policy, the legal nature of environmental taxation, the use of tax revenue, the ‘polluter pays principle’, and the relationship between environmental taxation and existing energy taxation. | ||
3. | A presentation by MoF personnel and discussion by the Sub-Committee on the subject of assets held by elderly people: | |
| Many elderly people hold a large amount of assets whilst also receiving a pension, but on the other hand there are also many elderly people who rely only on their pension. | ||
4. | A presentation and discussion of issues relating to consumption tax | |
| > | The consumption tax rate and the hypothecation of revenues for welfare purposes. | |
5. | The resolution of non-performing loans and its relationship to the tax system (a presentation was made by MoF personnel, followed by discussion): | |
| > | The corporation tax rate in Japan is already comparable to that in other countries. | |
| > | Regarding the resolution of non-performing loans and the tax system, discussion points included the treatment of depreciation and allowances for bad loans, refunds for carried-back losses, and deductions for amounts carried forward. It is necessary to base any consideration of this issue on the principle of the fairness of the tax system. | |
6. | The next meeting of the Sub-Committee will be held on 20th May 2003. | |
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Records (in Japanese) of the meetings of the Tax Commission and its Sub－Committees can be found at http://www.mof.go.jp/jouhou/syuzei/sy012.htm Further details of the fiscal year 2003 tax reforms can be found in English at | ||
