fxgai comments

It's simple. Abolish sales tax on groceries. And, raise the sales tax on luxury items to 15%, to help compensate. (Vehicles over ¥10million, watches over ¥100,000, handbags/shoes over ¥50,000, non-commercial boats, etc)

That's not simple.

Run it through an AI bot for a critique to learn why.

I'm not going to spend my money on something that is unfairly taxed.

Others say high-income earners will reap greater benefits from the tax reduction with their larger purchasing power

Yep, it'll be time to spend some money on a car or some other expensive purchase.

Who knows, maybe that will help the economy if the high-income earners spend more.

Bye bye to the tax revenue though.

and that lower revenue from the tax cut will only worsen the country's poor fiscal health. Japan's debt stands at more than 200 percent of its annual gross domestic product.

Indeed. If the government goes in this direction the yen is going to be sold hard methinks.

Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at the Nomura Research Institute, said the government should take measures specifically targeting low-income households in need of financial aid, rather than providing support to all income groups.

100%

"The opposition parties' tax cut proposals are highly likely to become permanent, even if labeled as temporary," warned Koya Miyamae, senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

The markets people know what is up here

Wtf is wrong with Japanese voters huh. They are the reason to sell your yen until you still can.

Anyone who bought platinum at the start of the year would have done better than if they bought Bitcoin.

There is almost always something better than Bitcoin

Japan should have free trade in rice. This would be to the benefit of it's consumers.

But it would be fun to see Japan protect it's electronics makers too by putting on a reciprocal tariffs of 25% on smartphones from US companies

"We are concerned that (they) would take action to maximize personal profit instead of for the benefit of all shareholders," Fuji Media, the parent company of Fuji Television Network Inc., said in a press release.

Fuji media's existing management types would never, never take action to maximize personal profit over the benefit of all shareholders. Unthinkable.

"Japan's floating voters are turning to smaller groups to pressure established parties. Since around 2020, that has meant backing parties with populist agendas, such as tax cuts,"

There are various types of tax cuts, some would be beneficial, some might not.

Consumption tax is a fair share paid by everyone, and cutting it is absolutely going to reduce tax revenues and blow out Japan's deficit, unless corresponding spending cuts are enacted.

Conversely, the inheritance tax for example gains far less in tax revenue and incentives people to spend time and resources unproductively in trying to circumvent it. Eliminating it would make life more pleasant for all those subject to it, incentivize people to focus their economic activity on more productive activities instead, potentially boosting overall tax revenues.

(A similar thing could be said about the complicated system surrounding capital gains.)

So it's not a matter of tax cuts being populist, it's a matter of fiscal irresponsibility being populist.

Coffee prices have been quite volatile in recent times, a 10% tariff is not a big deal.

The coffee futures contract looks to be down more than 25% from a couple of months ago.

In other words a 10% tariff cost has been more than offset by the fall in price of the coffee contract.

Japan has a 10% sales tax so it's kind of similar - all a bit meh, really.

The best way to deal with inflation would be to go back to a strong currency policy.

Commit to a strong yen and the USD/JPY rate could be back towards 100, smashing inflation and lowering prices.

The problem is Japan's government has too much public debt and wants to deal with it by inflating it away, so they don't want the currency to strengthen.

And the voters don't demand a strong yen, probably because like me, they have dumped their yen for foreign assets.

And the politicians can't even debate slashing wasteful spending, or spending on priorities. There is no prioritization. There is no agreement about priorities.

Unlike the US, there is no political discussion about reducing the national budget deficit.

Ishiba had it dead right when he said abolishing the consumptive n tax would favour the richest consumers the most.

Spending money Japan doesn't have will lead to further yen decline, more inflation, and more pain for the lowest income people and of course the people with no income at all.

The only good thing about the inflation is that is may be helping to restrain the debt to GDP ratio. There is no way Japan's politicians have the discipline to let things go in that direction though.

In order to pay for the extension of the tax cuts,

Spending requires being paid for.

Gathering revenues at a different tax rate than otherwise would be the case is not something that needs to be paid for.

The deficit is revenues minus spending. Tax is revenues, it is not spending.

This is common sense yet the political hyperbole oof opponents sews it turned on its head.

According to the Tax Foundation, an international policy think tank, the bill will reduce federal tax revenue by over $5 trillion over the next 10 years. That's NOT good.

Why is it not good for government to have less money (assuming that that turns out to be the case, which is dubious compared to what crashing the economy with unexpected tax hikes would have likely done)?

Last week there was a story that said democrats said the plans were in tatters because of the Senate parliamentarian.

Sounds like the welfare cuts are associated with young able bodied men having to work to qualify for free stuff. The democrats can be the party of the free loaders.

Going forward I expect there will be further bills aimed at addressing more of the overspending that the government is engaged in. Due to weird rules about this budget reconciliation there were things that could not be included.

Most important, making the tax settings permanent and averting a ridiculous tax hike next year has been achieved. US law making rules are geared towards reckless overspending and high tax, but the day has been saved here.

If the government drops sales tax temporarily as some parties are proposing, I will buy gold tax free once they do, then sell gold again tax inclusive for a tidy profit probably, when the tax rate goes back up.

Of course many people think like this, and therefore the politicians who propose such ideas are either daft or liars.

100% tariffs on iphones, and Amazon and google services from Japan's side. Bring it!

I am curious about what new spending is included, according to Musk.

I have heard that tax deduction increases are included for high tax states, which is something that seems like something that would favour the rich.

But neither Democrat or Republican politicians in those states seem to have a problem with it.

On the other hand without this bill taxes in the us would suddenly go up next year and likely crash the economy.

Democrats said the decisions would devastate GOP plans.

Nothing to see here then.

People aren't biased against Trump, they just do not like his policies and his behavior.

The opposite seems to be true.

Polls have shown that people in the us support his policies, but not his name.

As a non US person, I don't really care about him, but when who is really opposed to his policy of non illegal immigration and the deportation of illegal immigrants who have commit d serious crimes?

It's a common sense policy that any sane country would adopt, but put Trump's name on it and the media goes crazy about it

If Biden had blown up this Iranian nuclear bunker you can be assured the media would be praising the operation.

Hegseth criticized the media, without evidence, for having an anti-Trump bias.

The media IS the evidence.

It's so obvious to us international folks observing US politics from afar.

Trump wrote on his social media platform, without providing evidence.

Where is the evidence proving anything to the contrary?

I think Israeli and US intelligence has the best info, and accusations to the contrary seem to be politically motivated, as is par for the course in today's world of "media"

aggressive and unpredictable policies — including massive import taxes — have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market, raising fears that the American economy is headed toward a recession.

Yet, the S&P 500 closed up at about 6,090 this morning. (All time highs to follow shortly I expect.)

So when an article like this talks about "fears" of recession, one has to take it with a lump of salt.

It's a simple reality that the mainstream media hates the current US president, and no matter what occurs, it will be spun in a negative light, or just ignored for not fitting the negative narrative.

Let's see - when US 2nd quarter GDP numbers come out and show no sign of a recession with likely 3%+, it will be dismissed with excuses or ignored, although the 1st quarter print was made out to be a disaster.

There is so much political talk which is really nothing but noise.

The oil price has absolutely plummeted, which is all one really needs to know.

removed before the bombing, which seems to have happened.

Are you with Mossad?

How would you know?

Nice pro Iranian nukes piece!

What were they doing with that site 100 meters under a mountain? Nothing to see there...

Unbelievable that Ishiba can't even come up with a thought about this.

I could do a better job.

"Japan is opposed to nuclear weapons development, and wishes for peaceful resolution of the long standing dispute."

Something like that is better than nothing.

Couldn't even muster that? Has to have a chat with all the vested interests to make sure it's ok?

John McEnroe quote comes to mind...

These are the people who said that inflation circa 2021 was going to prove transitory.

ChatGPT could make better decisions

Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons,

By who?

I have never heard that before.

Rather I assumed they did not have them yet otherwise they would have already sent one Israel's way.

But they need to be examined by a bipartisan comittee and not be left "up to the POTUS"

Sounds a bit like CFIUS, the report of which the prior POTUS ignored.

While I am not a fan of trump's getting government fingers in the business pies, one has to consider that the prior administration had rejected the Nippon Steel buyout in absolute form.

Therefore, things could have been significantly worse.

The golden share thing looks like mostly a publicity stunt to me.

Shocking...

With draconian levels of inheritance tax here, foreigners with earning potential are better to go elsewhere. Japan is ok for holidays.