Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Reiwa Shinsengumi Party representative and former senator YAMAMOTO Taro led a march on the streets of Tokyo on Monday alongside 2,000 of his supporters to call for the reduction or elimination of consumption taxes and an end to a new billing system for small businesses and the self-employed.

During the demonstration in the busy Shibuya shopping district, demonstrators chanted slogans calling for higher wages and changes to, or the abolition of, the consumption tax.

Inflation caused by the Covid-19 crisis and exceptional measures taken to support the economy are now having an impact on prices and taxes and have reduced people’s purchasing power.

A mother expressed her opposition to the system of tax increases and the new invoicing system, which will hurt small businesses and freelance workers.

Another woman declared that the government favored large companies with its economic measures and the economic situation of the common people was not changing for the better.

Reiwa Party Chairman Yamamoto told Arab News Japan that he feared the new billing system introduced by Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio’s government would cause many small businesses and self-employed people to go bankrupt.

A petition of 500,000 signatures was submitted to the Prime Minister to request the cancellation of the tax system relating to invoices for small businesses and self-employed people.