Interest
Ken Akamatsu Says Japan's Controversial Invoice System Can't Be Stopped
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Although manga artist turned legislator Ken Akamatsu campaigned on a platform of staunch opposition to Japan's controversial new invoice system, his most recent comments about the issue are more measured. Last Friday, he wrote on Twitter that "the hurdle is high" for changing the law in a way that stops or delays the system from coming into effect. Instead, he will focus on changing the law if problems arise after its implementation next October.
"Even within the party's tax system research council, there have been strong opinions about delaying or stopping [the invoice system]," he wrote. "However, the hurdle is high to achieve this, at least from a legislation perspective. I am entrusting the matter to the head of the council; if problems with the system show up after it goes into effect next October, then we will reform the law."
He added in a follow-up tweet that the industries which oppose the invoice system are petitioning to reduce the harm to vulnerable citizens if the system cannot be completely halted. In support of that, he said he is also negotiating with the Ministry of Finance. As a result, they have reached a compromise by capping sales tax over three years to 20%.
"However, the people involved in the taxation side have utterly no motivation to act," he remarked. "While searching for what else we can do, we have started discussions with publishers and other groups to address the fundamental issue: lifting wages across the industries."
The Liberal Democratic Party announced on November 30 that it is relaxing the taxable rate for small businesses that earn less than 10 million yen (about US$73,500) to 20% across a three-year-period. Yо̄ichi Miyazawa, who heads the LDP's tax system research council, told the media that the invoice system will not be delayed.
Under the new invoice system, freelancers and sole proprietors will lose their tax-exempt status because invoices will be subject to consumption tax. According to a manga industry survey, 98% of respondents were sole proprietors, and among them, 20.6％ reported that they fear that the invoice system will force them to go out of business.
The system is also controversial for compromising individual privacy. Invoices can only be considered "verified" if individuals file them using their real names, and the names will be accessible to the public via a national database. This poses problems to workers who wish to keep their real names private, such as manga artists and Virtual YouTubers.
Despite the system's unpopularity, the number of registered users is increasing. According to Tetsushi Shimono, who manages the invoice system at the National Tax Agency, the system has 1.43 million registered users as of the end of October, up 228,000 from the end of September. Around 200,000 new registrations are filed per month. Because the number of taxable businesses is estimated to be 3 million, just under half have already registered.
