Gov't panel agrees on tax-relief measures for quake victims

TOKYO, April 13 Kyodo - A government panel agreed Wednesday on a set of measures that would help ease tax burdens on people affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which have ravaged housing and other properties in northeastern Japan.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan is planning to submit relevant bills together with a draft extra budget for fiscal 2011 to finance reconstruction work to the Diet within this month.
The special measures agreed on by the Tax Commission involve steps to free sufferers in severely damaged areas from paying fixed asset taxes on their homes and real estate during the year through next March.
The commission also proposed allowing those who lost their cars to purchase new ones without paying vehicle acquisition taxes, continuing the application of mortgage tax breaks to destroyed homes and refunding corporate taxes to affected companies.
The panel says it cannot calculate possible losses in the country's tax revenues following the steps because the total damage caused by the disaster is still unknown.
The commission was unable to agree on a proposal for abolishing a clause in a tax law that currently enables the government to lower taxes on gasoline as an emergency step to prevent its prices from going higher when they top certain levels. The proposal reflects widespread concerns that gasoline has not been fully supplied for restoration work in the quake-hit areas.
Proponents of abolishing the ''trigger clause'' say that allowing gasoline prices to keep rising, against the backdrop of recent crude oil price hikes, would discourage consumers from purchasing gasoline for non-urgent purposes, such as driving for leisure, and facilitate procurement in the disaster-hit region.
The commission decided to leave a final decision to Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who heads the panel, and its executive members.