Latest news with #takehomepay
Japan Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
DPP pledges to increase take-home pay ahead of Upper House election
The Democratic Party for the People will seek to implement measures to increase people's take-home pay, its leader Yuichiro Tamaki said in an interview ahead of the Upper House election on July 20. Tamaki said that the opposition party will aim to win 16 seats in the race for the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, as holding a total of 21 seats, including those not to be contested in the upcoming poll, would enable the party to independently submit bills needing budgetary measures. "We will make it a summer of raising take-home pay," he said, pledging the party's aim of increasing the country's annual gross domestic product to ¥1 quadrillion ($6.95 trillion) in a decade. Tamaki said that the DPP will work hard to promote investments, to increase education, science and technology budgets to around ¥10 trillion, and to resolve labor supply constraints by raising the minimum taxable income levels. He called the measures "the three arrows of the DPP," in an apparent reference to the "three arrows" of the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Abenomics economic policy mix. Tamaki said his party will focus on combating inflation in the Upper House race, arguing that the DPP is the only party seeking to tackle the issue head-on by raising incomes. He criticized the administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, saying that the government has not fulfilled promises of raising the annual taxable income threshold and scrapping a provisional add-on tax rate for gasoline. His party and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition agreed last December to aim for raising the minimum annual taxable income level to ¥1.78 million. Tamaki declined to commit to cooperating with other parties after the Upper House poll. "Decisions will be based on policy" rather than party, he said. Regarding cooperation with opposition parties for the July 20 election, Tamaki said, "Basically, we aim to make our party bigger." At the same time, he noted that the DPP has experience of cooperating with other parties and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, in certain single-seat constituencies. "I will respect the circumstances and history of each region as much as possible," he said. Tamaki avoided commenting on whether the DPP will continue policy negotiations with the ruling bloc after the election, saying, "It is unclear whether (the Ishiba administration) will continue." "We will cooperate where possible in order to achieve our policies, but will not cooperate where we can't," he went on. Tamaki said his goal of becoming prime minister remains unchanged, while noting that the timing and other related issues depend on the political landscape. He attributed the DPP's declining support rate in recent media opinion polls to turmoil over the fielding of a candidate under the proportional representation system in the Upper House race. "We will go back to basics and campaign on policies aimed at increasing take-home pay," Tamaki said.
Bloomberg
25-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
South Africans Feel the Pinch as Take-Home Pay Drops Again
South Africans real take-home pay declined by 1.1% in May from the previous month, according to BankservAfrica. The drop marked the third consecutive monthly decline in consumer salaries, reflecting the strain of a sluggish local economy and mounting global volatility, the Johannesburg-based lender said in a statement on Wednesday. Its data tracks about 3.8 million salary earners in South Africa.
Japan Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan's opposition DPP pledges lower taxes and higher take-home pay
The opposition Democratic Party for the People on Tuesday announced its campaign promises for this summer's election of the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of Japan's parliament, with the focus primarily on boosting people's take-home pay through tax cuts. The party promised a temporary reduction in the consumption tax rate to 5% from the current 10%, the abolition of the provisional gasoline tax surcharge and an increase in the minimum annual taxable income level to ¥1.78 million. "Through wage hikes and the return to the people of national tax revenues that increased due to the yen's weakening, we'll aim to realize 'a summer of increased take-home pay,'" the party said. The DPP emphasized support for young people and the working generation, proposing to double the budget for child-rearing and education by issuing what the party calls "education government bonds" worth ¥5 trillion annually. It also pledged to reduce income tax for people up to the age of 30 who started working after finishing junior high or high school. The party aims to achieve nominal gross domestic product of ¥1,000 trillion in 2035 through investment tax cuts in growth sectors such as semiconductors and storage batteries, along with measures to stimulate consumption. If successful, tax revenues would rise to ¥120 trillion, significantly improving the government's finances, it explained. Regarding agriculture, the party said it would introduce a direct payment system for farmers in order to increase the production of staple rice. On security policy, it promised to enact a law to prevent espionage and a law to regulate land acquisition by foreign nationals. The party also called for rebuilding or newly building nuclear power plants and promoting the research and development of nuclear fusion technology, saying that the country should aim to achieve an energy self-sufficiency rate of 50%. Elsewhere in its campaign pledges, the DPP reiterated its support for a selective dual surname system for married couples. On imperial succession, the party called for continued discussions on the idea of allowing female members to retain their imperial family status even after marrying commoners and on the proposal of adopting as children male members in the paternal line of former imperial family branches to give them imperial family status. It also sought to consider a plan to allow male members in the paternal line of former imperial family branches to directly become imperial family members by law, without going through the process of adoption. DPP leader Yuichiro Tamaki told a news conference that the party had also called for boosting people's take-home pay in last year's election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, but has not been able to fulfill the promise due to a lack of strength on its part. He added, "We would like to increase the number of our seats in the Upper House through the coming election and improve our ability to realize our policies."
