The Ministry of Finance’s Shocking Answer. The “Real Reason” for Introducing the Invoice System Even if “Real Names” are Unavoidable.
The Ministry of Finance’s Shocking Answer. The “Real Reason” for Introducing the Invoice System Even if “Real Names” are Unavoidable.
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There is a rising movement against the new “Invoice System” that is being forced through by the LDP and Ministry of Finance.
To explain the issue in relative brevity, this is a way to get more people to pay the 10% consumption tax (freelancers and small businesses who earn less than 10 million yen per year have normally been exempt from paying consumption tax to the government). In fact, consumption tax started out at 3% with a threshold of 30 million yen in 1989 when it was introduced, but the government has gradually increased the burden over the years. The new invoice system will make everything more complicated and put extra burden on freelancers and small businesses. Furthermore, a lot of creators and manga artists (etc) use an anonymous pen-name, and their real names would be exposed if they are required to apply as invoice-providing businesses.
Another theorized goal of this draconian system is that by increasing the burden on freelancers and small businesses, many of them will be forced to quit as independent operations and join to work as employees of larger companies instead. This is the sort of systemic change that the mega-corporations in the [Keidanren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Business_Federation) might desire. Or it could simply be that by increasing consumption tax revenue, the government will be able to further reduce the corporate tax.
To summarize, they are forcing through this new system that no one wants and will only make things worse for everyone except major corporations, without caring about the public’s approval.
There is more info on the [“STOP! Invoice” official page](https://stopinvoice.org/) (Japanese)
If you want to know more about the consumption tax, check out the [big post I wrote about it here](https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/vonx5p/the_japan_subreddit_directory_basic_questions/iexb7nl/) too.
This news makes me feel so much. Many people think that belonging to a company as an employee is the only job for a decent person and freelancers are just playing around.
I have high hopes for Ken Akamatsu, I wonder if he will improve the invoice system?