Protest against consumption tax

Posted on 9 months ago

TOKYO (Online): About 200 housewives marched down a shopping street in central Tokyo, beating pans with ladles and shouting slogans criticizing a government plan to double Japan’s 5 percent consumption tax. “Ordinary people like us have a limited amount of money we can spend each month,� says Natsuyo Makabe, a protester who took part in three demonstrations in June against the tax hike as well as nuclear energy and a free-trade pact. “Ninety-nine percent of the public will have to cut back on what they buy.� The apron protesters, as they are known, argue that a tax increase would crimp household budgets just when the economy can’t withstand a drop in consumption. They say it’s a bad time for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to rein in public debt that will be over 230 percent of national output this year, the biggest anywhere.
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