Japan's lower house of parliament approves a bill to double the national sales tax to 10% by...

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WMARKW Comments (8358)
 
Wow....this action should dramatically improve the condition of the economy in Japan (not). Where do these people come up with this stuff. The have been trying to inflate the economy for 2 decades. They can't get Japanese consumers to spend and stop saving and investing their money in Japanese government bonds. Now they want to add the contractionary act of increasing taxes???? Am I missing something?
26 Jun 2012, 05:01 AM Reply Like

davidingeorgia Comments (2678)
 
Well, it's not like a sales tax increase will matter much in the long run to a society hard at work committing demographic suicide.
26 Jun 2012, 05:44 AM Reply Like

Vuke Comments (1486)
 
The real lesson to be drawn from this is the question:

How long will it be before a value added tax comes to the US? The VAT is the most insidious device devised by the fiendishly obsessed mind of government enthralled with the notion of keeping its coffers full. What government, anywhere, has ever attempted to balance its budget without this imposition on the lives of its citizens?

The worst aspect of the VAT is that it allows government to continue its dissolute ways until you end up with an obscene 25%, like Denmark and other countries.
http://bit.ly/MxoD1g
26 Jun 2012, 06:36 AM Reply Like

User 353732 Comments (3912)
 
Crush the consumer even more even as effective purchasing power keeps falling year after year ?
Japan is now caught in a dark web of political, demographic and fiscal pathologies from it cannot now recover. For decades Japan will decline materially and geo strategically becoming more and more irrelevant even in Asia. The sun has now almost set; the polity is entering a long twilight and an even longer night.
26 Jun 2012, 06:45 AM Reply Like

WMARKW Comments (8358)
 
You'd almost think the Powers that Be were trying to crush civilization !
26 Jun 2012, 08:02 AM Reply Like

kkksss Comment (1)
 
Very good measure for Japan. It will reduce domestic consumption without impairing exports. Japan - exporting problems whenever possible, like everybody else
26 Jun 2012, 08:14 AM Reply Like

idkmybffjill Comments (561)
 
So does anyone here have any alternatives for how Japan can solve its debt issues? All I see are criticisms....any alternatives? Not saying I agree with their policy, but I'd love to hear some alternatives from the couch critics..
26 Jun 2012, 10:50 AM Reply Like