Comments on: Billions Of Yen Hidden In Cardboard Boxes

By: Troy

Troy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:07:50 +0000

Inheritance taxes are like all other taxes. They are needed to feed the parasites of our societies regardless of the country. You can word taxation differently to sweeten it so the masses will swallow it.

By: Aki

Aki — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:00:07 +0000

True. Sankei reported the nationality as South Korea. Although BBC reported their names by their Japanese pseudonyms (Shimizu and Ishii), their true name is Lee, according to Sankei, Nikkei and Mainichi.

By: The Overthinker

The Overthinker — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:04:04 +0000

It’s an improvement from how they used to treat Japanese immigrants, at least….

By: stereo

stereo — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:33:37 +0000

In that case, you have to worry about the gift tax. Unlike US, in Japan, the receiver of gifts must pay the tax, if the total value of the gifts received in a year is more than 1,100,000 yen. The tax rate is 50%(!), if the value of the gifts exceeds 11,500,000 yen.

By: ty_ping

ty_ping — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:05:06 +0000

I kind of agree here, If the parents really wanted those kids to get the money, they would have either set up bank accounts in the kids names and placed the money there as gifts or loans so that the inheritance tax wouldn’t have to be paid, or given them the house before dying. It’s not like Japanese people are unaware of this tax. So there are things that can be done to get around it before you are gone.

Hell that’s what my grandpa did, set up a special account for my cousins and his children and my family and every year just put money in each of them so when he died, most of that money was untaxed. (Except in the case of my younger cousins, their money was in a college bond, so they can’t get it unless they enter a university, or until they turn 30.)

By: morningstar

morningstar — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:36:40 +0000

THE TWO SISTERS MADE THE MISTAKE IN NOT SPENDING THE INHERITANCE.

By: LondonGaijin

LondonGaijin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:26:56 +0000

I would have liked to know how much would have been taken in tax…

By: U Far Tid

U Far Tid — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:53:23 +0000

We’re Japanese living in the US, on green cards. My father worked a small company with about 3 employees, his own little thing. My mother is a typical Japanese housewife, has not worked a day since she was in college, probably 40 years ago.
He dies a couple of years ago. The US government took 60% of everything he had, all his company assets, properties and money because he was not a Yank. Left my mother with nothing. After all those years of employing Americans here in his company, paying taxes for about 2 decades, running a good, honest business, they stripped everything from her.

There is no thanks from this bastard, hypocritical, slave-driving State.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:50:48 +0000

Sounds like socialism.

By: Blue

Blue — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:19:01 +0000

They are not Japanese. They are Korean sisters.　

By: The Overthinker

The Overthinker — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:18:27 +0000

Nothing like people telling other people how to spend their own money.

As for democracy being destroyed by rich families, who do you think is in the White House now? Some poor son of an immigrant? Ask JFK about it too. Or we could go back and see how democratic the US was during the Gilded Age when the Rockefellers and other massively wealthy families were at their peak.

By: Linknoir

Linknoir — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:01:31 +0000

@ stereo

I would love to hear you say that if you were the inheriting the money.

By: otsuka

otsuka — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:28:06 +0000

God forbid the gov’t finds out I’m buying tea and cigs from conbinis twice a week.

By: OsakaGuy

OsakaGuy — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:02:35 +0000

Inheritance taxes aren’t as unfair as property taxes. You don’t really own your land since you have to pay the government “rent” on it.

By: The Overthinker

The Overthinker — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:57:56 +0000

“the society you made it off of?”

What do you mean? Society got its reward when it decided that it valued the property (in this case) on offer more than the XXX million it was being sold at. Both sides profited. If I didn’t think that the meal I just ate was worth the money it cost, I would not have bought it. That is why I do not go to McDonalds, for example. Or why I do not drive a new Mercedes Benz.

I believe that the inheritance tax level is basically 60,000,000 inherited times the number of children – so if you have two children inheriting your goods, you can leave them 120,000,000 before they have to start coughing up.

And surely the person who owns the money has the right to determine who gets it.

By: stereo

stereo — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:52:18 +0000

It seems you are kind of people who cannot care less about the privacy. They are watching as you use cards.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:47:57 +0000

Why do your kids deserve the money you earned more than the society you made it off of? It’s not as if they’re getting nothing if the state takes a piece of it, as well. Also, while I’m not sure what the law is in Japan, only the estates of the extremely wealthy are taxed in the US. It’s not like you or your offspring are ever going to have to worry about the state taking from your inheritance.

By: David

David — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:39:47 +0000

Inheritance tax is the fairest tax!

Money you earn for yourself during your life time you probably deserve. If you work hard you get a lot of it. It makes sense to tax work as little as possible to encourage people to work hard. Inheritance on the other hand is a lottery – you might not contribute ANYTHING to society but still end up rich if you inherit money.

By: stereo

stereo — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:33:59 +0000

What is unfair is not inheritance tax but inheriting huge amount of money just because a person is born in a rich family. Inheriting money more than he can handle will corrupt the person. He is likely to spend the money foolishly. Money is better spent by the people who are clever enough to earn that amount by themselves. Inheritance tax is needed to prevent the formation of social class based on nepotism that will eventually destroy democracy.

By: hoihoi

hoihoi — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:24:23 +0000

the Japanese motto is …Do not leave the child the beautiful rice field.

By: Durf

Durf — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:09:11 +0000

If pops was smart enough to amass a fortune of that size you’d think he’d also be smart enough to squirrel it away in some little European country with no international reporting regulations.

By: sod

sod — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:27:58 +0000

your taxed all your life then when you die all your money is taxed agian. any home you may inherit youll have to sell just to pay the goverment.i can’t see where there is a logic in it apart from getting more money out of people.

By: mg2003

mg2003 — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:31:19 +0000

How can anybody say that inheritance tax is fair? Please explain.

The income of the father, in this case, was already taxed when he earned it. When he dies the government double dips. I can’t understand how that is fair.

By: Neil Duckett

Neil Duckett — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:29:52 +0000

Inheritance tax sucks, it’s a ridiculous tax.