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Japan has a revenue hole – plug it with tourists
The country faces a shortfall in revenue and complaints of too many travellers. Can these problems cancel each other out?
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Even at the 60 million tourists expected by the end of the decade, the authorities would need to levy around US$850 (S$1,100) a person to make it work.
PHOTO: AFP
Gearoid Reidy
Two different stories have played out in Japan at very distinct paces over recent months.
First, a long-running debate over the amount that workers must earn before paying tax. Such policy anywhere can be a snoozefest, and nowhere more so than in Japan. Embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, needing the support of an opposition party that made raising the tax-free threshold its signature policy, has endured months of back-and-forth debate.
