The chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged the government Thursday to postpone the start of the new securities tax until the negative sentiment hovering over the stock market retreats.
The new taxation system is "so complicated that it could result in stock falls," Nobuo Yamaguchi said.
The new system, to be introduced in January, may make investors feel that it will be "more advantageous to sell shares by the end of this year," according to Yamaguchi.
Investors have the option of either paying a 1.05 percent withholding tax on the value of shares sold, whether at a profit or a loss, or paying a 26 percent tax on their annual capital gains by filing a separate tax return.
While the new taxation system will abolish the withholding tax, some fear it is so complicated that it may discourage individuals from buying stocks.
Yamaguchi also said the government should take all possible measures, including a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year, to end deflation and prop up the stock market.
Yamaguchi's views on the stock tax system were echoed by another top business leader, Hiroshi Okuda, the chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren). Okuda spoke to the media in Sapporo the same day.
Investors will continue to shy away from the stock market unless the tax system for securities becomes simpler, Okuda said.
In Tokyo, Vice Finance Minister Toshiro Muto did not deny the possibility of reviewing and re-examining the system.