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Japans consumption tax 日本的消费税 THE Japanese are among the worlds most reluctant taxpayers. They reserve their deepestloathing for value-added tax . That may be because one of the inventors of VAT, CarlShoup, an American economist, used them as guinea pigs for his new levy during theoccupation after the second world war. Japan soon scrapped VAT, reintroducing aconsumption tax only in 1989. This quickly became as hated as its foreign-imposedforerunner. 日本人是世界上最不情愿的纳税人之一。他们对增值税恨之入骨。可能是因为增值税的发明者之一，美国经济学家Carl Shoup在二战之后用他们作为其新税收类型的小白鼠。日本很快废除了增值税，直到1989年重新引入了一种消费税。很快人们也烦透了这一税收。 The gaijin are watching again as Japan struggles to raise the consumption tax for only thesecond time since its introduction. The IMF, the OECD and local institutions all reckon a series of rises is the only way for Japan tocontrol its gross public debt, approaching 250% of GDP. 近日日本开始准备第二次提高消费税，这引来了外国人的再次关注。货币基金组织，经合组织和日本国内机构都认为日本控制国债的唯一方法就是提高税收。日本国债已达到GDP的250%之多。 The Democratic Party of Japan, which won legislative backing for the hike last year, arguedthat without it Japan could soon go the way of Greece. Financial markets have counted onthe tax rise going ahead despite a change of government since then. This week theauthorities surprised them by saying they would set up a panel to examine whether toproceed as planned. | 
