Japan Biz Leader Hails Kan's Corporate Tax Cut Decision

Tokyo, Dec. 14 (Jiji Press)--Japanese business leader Hiromasa
Yonekura welcomed Tuesday a decision by Prime Minister Naoto Kan to cut the
country's effective corporate tax rate by 5 percentage points, starting in
fiscal 2011.
"This is a step forward toward realization of the government's new
growth strategy," said Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation,
the country's biggest business lobby and also known as Nippon Keidanren.
He said he would like to pay his respects to Kan for taking the
leadership and making the decision.
Noting that the tax reduction will allow companies to make more
investment and increase employment, Yonekura said business circles will make
efforts in these areas.
But he added that whether to increase domestic investment and
create new jobs is an issue of management efforts by individual companies.
With the remark, he again signaled his opposition to the idea of
the business sector making commitments to investment and job growth.
On Monday, Kan instructed his cabinet ministers to lower the
effective corporate tax rate by 5 percentage points from next April. The tax
rate currently stands at 40.69 pct, one of the highest among developed
countries.
Meanwhile, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Banri Kaieda said at
a press conference Tuesday that companies should start boosting employment
and capital spending from the next fiscal year in line with a goal for the
business community.
Nippon Keidanren has told the government that it aims to increase
Japan's annual corporate capital expenditure to 104 trillion yen in 10 years
if an effective corporate tax cut is implemented.