Pending- Law to revoke the permanent residency status of foreign nationals who fail to pay taxes

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

Via Reddit - https://old.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comm ... residency/

Source: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15149510

The government is considering amending the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law to revoke the permanent residency status of foreign nationals who fail to pay taxes and social security premiums

[RetireJapan]

This is an absolute travesty as written (need more details to be sure).

100s of LDP politicians break the law and fail to pay taxes, and the government decides to prioritize... solving the nonexistent problem of permanent residents who don't pay taxes

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

This is an absolute travesty as written (need more details to be sure).

100s of LDP politicians break the law and fail to pay taxes, and the government decides to prioritize... solving the nonexistent problem of permanent residents who don't pay taxes

I think the LDP is using it as a hedge for their base. Yes, more foreigners, to keep that nenkin rolling in. But, as soon as they stop paying they will get the boot.

Even scarier, some posters here may fall victim to this sort of law. (Based on previous posts).

[sutebayashi]

It’s from the same government that is trying to attract more highly skilled foreign talent to work in Japan, despite the depreciating value of the local currency, isn’t it?

Good policy making is not one of the reasons why I choose for now to live in Japan.

Edit: fair enough that people be expected to pay their taxes according to the rules though.

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

It’s from the same government that is trying to attract more highly skilled foreign talent to work in Japan, despite the depreciating value of the local currency, isn’t it?

Good policy making is not one of the reasons why I choose for now to live in Japan.

Edit: fair enough that people be expected to pay their taxes according to the rules though.

With this sort of system, a loss of job, injury, or disability, could have the added threat of loss of status.

Also, unfortunately, lower-income persons tend to have less financial education and make poor financial decisions. We do not want a debt=deportation, type of situation.

Let us hope any future system, has safeguards to prevent people from spiraling when they hit a financial pothole.

[zeroshiki]

As a headline it seems draconian but I think it will have alot of guardrails on it like refusal to pay for 5 straight years despite warnings and/or wage garnishment not being enough. We always like to think of the Japanese government as this bogeyman but my experience with bureaucracy has mostly been pleasant. Even when I had to back pay taxes the process was very straightforward and simple.

[RetireJapan]

As a headline it seems draconian

It seems like a solution to a nonexistent problem. There are already laws that deal with people who don't pay tax. Not paying health insurance or nenkin are not crimes in Japan. I believe everyone should pay them, but if it is enough of an issue why not make policies to encourage everyone to pay?

Anyone remember this scandal from 2004, where hundreds of politicians were found to be not paying into nenkin? https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%94%BF ... F%E9%A1%8C

I don't like the rhetoric or the headlines (it seems to imply there is a big problem with permanent residents not paying taxes -where is the data?), and I really don't like the possible precedent.

What's next, revoke PR for traffic offences?

You already lose PR if convicted of a serious offence, I don't see any need to expand that to misdemeanors.

[zeroshiki]

Seems like this will be approved. NHK seems to think so and we know how laws get approved here in Japan.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/202402 ... 91000.html

They did add some color. The headline says 故意に税金未納や滞納繰り返した場合 国が永住許可取り消しへ

and I think the key here is 故意 (on purpose) and 繰り返し (repeated). They won't just kick you out if you miss a payment. It's if your city has repeatedly asked you to pay and you refuse to even go to city hall/pension office and try to come up with a solution.

The article also talks about trainee visas so my guess is this whole erasing PR thing comes from their fear that those laborers on trainee visas will get PR and then refuse to pay tax/pension.

[goran]

one more reason to go for naturalization ?
Am I the only one thinking on this line?

[RetireJapan]

one more reason to go for naturalization ?
Am I the only one thinking on this line?

Yes, it has made me more inclined to naturalise but I was already going in that direction.