Re:Japan's IC cards are weird and wonderful
by lmm on Monday May 19, 2025 @06:41AM
(#44028342)
> To my knowledge only 2 things that could qualify as incentive exist:
> - commuting allowances are not considered taxable income for employee
> - commuting allowance could be used to reduce tax base for the business
> But this is not something I'd call 'heavily'.
They do both those things, so commute costs are a free tax discount. But they also just tell companies directly that they want them to act in a certain way, and the companies generally fall into line. While the zaibatsu have nominally disappeared, there are still very close ties between the politicians and big businesses in Japan.
> - commuting allowances are not considered taxable income for employee
> - commuting allowance could be used to reduce tax base for the business
> But this is not something I'd call 'heavily'.
They do both those things, so commute costs are a free tax discount. But they also just tell companies directly that they want them to act in a certain way, and the companies generally fall into line. While the zaibatsu have nominally disappeared, there are still very close ties between the politicians and big businesses in Japan.