Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/281

 be furnished of Japan's finance during the Meiji era by noting that, owing to processes of conversion, consolidation, etc., and to various requirements of the State's progress, twenty-two different kinds of national bonds were issued from 1870 to 1896; that they aggregated 673,215,500 yen; that 269,042,198 yen of that total had been paid off at the close of 1897, and that the remainder will be redeemed, according to the present programme, by 1946.  —Income tax is payable, not only by Japanese subjects, but also by all persons having a domicile in Japan, or having resided there for more than one year. The minimum taxable income is 300 yen (£30) annually, and the rate for such an income is one per cent. As the income increases, so does the rate, up to a limit of five and one half per cent, which is paid by persons having an income of 100,000 yen (£10,000) or upward. There is a business tax which is levied on various branches of business; as, sales of merchandise, banking, insurance, warehousing, manufacturing, printing, photography, transportation, restaurants, hotels, factors, and brokers. When levied on the amount of mercantile transactions, it is $1⁄2000$ for wholesale dealers and $3⁄2000$ for retail dealers. In other cases, it is levied at the rate of $2⁄1000$ capital engaged, or at the rate of from two per cent to six per cent on the rental value of the buildings employed. When a business is carried on partly in a foreign country and partly in Japan, only the capital used in Japan is liable to tax. The taxes on vehicles and saké do not call for any special notice. Stamp-duties and registration fees are also collected.  —The efficiency of money has greatly increased, of course, during recent years. Thus whereas, in 1873, there were only half a dozen banks with a total capital of six thousand pounds, and aggregate loans of the same amount, approximately, the number at the close of 1899 was 2,296, with a total capital of 49,500,000 sterling and loans aggregating 267,000,000. In 1873 sums deposited by individuals in banks amounted to 500,000; in 1892, they aggregated 33,000,000. In 1887, the year after the establishment of clearing-houses in Tōkyō and Ōsaka, the clearances aggregated less than 3,000,000 sterling; in 1899, they totalled over 129,000,000. 