Freedom isn't just failing in theUS, the value added tax will increase by 60% in Japan
Things are obviously bad in the US. The rest of the world isn't peachy, though. A 60% increase in the VAT in Japan could be devastating to the most indebted nation in the industrialized world.
Japan OKs Record Budget, Sees Deflation Threat Recede
Budget Includes Increased Spending On Military
Dec. 24, 2013 - 03:45AM |
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.defensenews.com/apps/pbcs...=2013312240008
Quote:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet rubber-stamped a plan that will see the government spend ¥95.88 trillion (US $922 billion) in the year from April 2014, up from ¥92.61 trillion the previous year.
The figure is the largest in Japan’s history due to changes in accounting rules and the sales tax, which will rise from five percent to eight [an instant 60% increase] on April 1.
The budget came on the day that a key government report dropped the word “deflation” for the first time in more than four years, saying the economy “is on the way to recovery at a modest pace.”
The lion’s share of the extra revenue generated by the sales tax rise is ear-marked for spending on snow-balling medical fees and other social welfare costs.
Even so, the projected primary balance deficit — the shortfall between what the government gets and what it spends on everything apart from debt-servicing — is expected to shrink by ¥5.2 trillion to ¥18 trillion.
That means Japan’s national debt — already the highest proportionately in the industrialized world — will continue to rise, but at a slower pace.
Quote:
In line with defense policies announced last week that are intended to shore up the way Japan protects its remote islands at a time of rising tensions with China, military spending will increase for the second consecutive year.
Overall it will rise 2.8 percent to ¥4.88 trillion, accounting for 5.1 percent of the whole budget.
The bulk of the increase reflects salary hikes, with the remaining 0.8 percent set aside for new fighter jets, drones and a new amphibious unit.
Quote:
Social welfare spending will rise 4.8 percent to ¥1.40 trillion and will be partially financed by the VAT rise.