How are Japan’s tax increases working?
by John Seiler | September 8, 2014 4:31 pm
Given the desire for even more tax increases for American and California, how are the recent tax increases[1] working in Japan?
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy shrank more sharply in the second quarter than first estimated and the latest indicators suggest only a modest bounce back since then.
The world’s third-largest economy contracted at an annualized rate of 7.1 percent in the April-June quarter, according to updated government figures Monday. The initial estimate released earlier this month said the economy contracted 6.8 percent. Business investment fell more than twice as much as first estimated.
The economic crash was preceded by a brief “boom” of 6 percent annualized from Jan. to March as people and businesses went on a buying spree to avoid the onrushing tax increases.
If you’re old enough, you remember the threat Japan’s economy supposedly posed to America in the 1970s and 1980s. The late Michael Crichton published a 1992 novel about it, “Rising Sun[2].” The novel was made into a 1993 movie [3]starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. Ironically, Snipes himself was imprisoned for allegedly violating[4] America’s own preposterous and confiscatory tax edicts.
Then around 20 years ago Japan began committing economic seppuku through high taxes, wild deficit spending and preposterous regulations. One “lost decade” turned into two[5]. Now it looks like it’ll be three.
According to World Bank data, Japan’s national debt[6] is 197 percent of GDP, higher even than bankrupt Greece’s 164 percent and more than double America’s 94 percent.
No wonder China’s economy has been soaring. The governments of its two major competitors, America and Japan, are engaged in a suicide pact to see which first can tax and spend its economy to death.
- tax increases: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-07-20-43-16
- Rising Sun: http://www.michaelcrichton.net/books-risingsun.html
- 1993 movie : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107969/
- allegedly violating: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2013/04/05/wesley-snipes-walks-out-of-prison-just-before-tax-day/
- turned into two: https://www.boj.or.jp/en/announcements/press/koen_2014/data/ko140423a1.pdf
- national debt: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GC.DOD.TOTL.GD.ZS?order=wbapi_data_value_2012+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=desc
Source URL: https://calwatchdog.com/2014/09/08/how-are-japans-tax-increases-working/