The Japanese Tax System, Hiromitsu Ishi - Review

Contemporary Review, July, 2001

The Japanese Tax System. Hiromitsu Ishi. Oxford University Press. [pound]45.00. 427 pages. ISBN 0-19-924256-9. The last edition of this study in 1993 revised a book first published in 1989. This, the third edition, brings Professor Ishi's study of Japan's taxation policy up to date and considers the effects of the prolonged economic and banking crisis that was only beginning in 1993.

This economic depression brought in its wake a major change in tax policy in order to 'kick-start' the economy. It is the aim of this third edition to 'clarify the process and the effect of another tax reform'. To do this the author has had to revise the entire text. He has also taken the opportunity to add a new chapter on environmental taxes and to include a discussion of land tax reform. As in earlier editions, the author's aim is to describe the origin and development of the principal characteristics of Japan's tax system: the low tax burden, the lowest among the OECD countries apart from Turkey and the U.S.; a heavier relia nce on income and corporate taxation; the relative slowness to introduce a value-added tax; and, the centralised collection system of tax collection. This book remains the definitive study of Japan's tax policy today and of the history behind it.