THE JAPANESE TAX SYSTEM FROM THE STANDPOINT OF FOREIGN BUSINESS

The Japanese tax system includes both direct and indirect taxes and national and local taxes. In the 1961 Budget the total national tax revenues of 1,856,900 million yen ($5,087,000,000) were to be derived 51.7% from direct taxes, 44.6% from indirect taxes, and 3.7% from other assessments.1 The principal direct taxes are the Juridical Persons' Tax (more commonly called the Corporation Tax) and the Income Tax among the national Taxes and the Inhabitants' Taxes and Enterprise Tax among local taxes. There is no general sales tax in Japan, the principal indirect taxes being those on alcoholic beverages, gasoline, certain commodities considered as luxuries, customs duties and tonnage dues. In addition there are the profits derived by the government from the Tobacco Monopoly. Tables showing what proportion of total national and local tax revenues each one of these was expected to fill in the 1961 Budget are to be found at the end of this article.