INCOMES IN JAPAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23858, 12 July 1939, Page 6

INCOMES IN JAPAN

Statistics concerning incomes in Japan for the year 1938-39, which have recently been published,, show that the Japanese nation consists of a vast peasantry and ■ proletariat, earning less than £2 10s a week; a small middle class of 1,500,000 (roughly, one family in 40) earning less than £SOO a year; and, at the other end of the scale, 3223 persons

with incomes of £IO,OOO a year or more. Right at the top, in splendid isolation, are seven persons, who pay income tax on more than £400,000 each. The typical middleclass income is between £l2O and £ 150 a year. In this category there are 340,872 persons. Next in numerical order come 330,625 taxpayers assessed on incomes between £ 100 and £l2O. In the lowest tax category, that of incomes between £BO and £IOO, there are 40,929 persons. A striking feature of the returns is

the sharp fall that occurs above the £SOO-a-year level. The statistics show that 207,770 persons paid on £SOO a year, but only 76,493 on incomes between £6OO and £7OO. Above £SOO a year the numbers fall steeply, though a small number of individual incomes provide fantastic contrasts. Seventy persons have incomes of over £IOO,OOO a year, including the seven who pay taxes on incomes of over £400,000. These seven belong to thi'ee families.