One of the two constants in life...

Well, next time April 15th rolls around think of me...

We get taxed about 30% on our income taxes (Not that bad, really... considering that we are technically below the poverty line...). Sales tax in these parts is about 4.5%, which is okay.

But then Japan has another tax... One they don't advertise about on the brochures...

City taxes... Yep, the City wants a part of the picture too... and this isn't connected to land or owning a house... this is tax placed on you simply because you live in a city...

So, one day you just get a bill from the city... pay it or else incur fines... pay at the city hall...it's due at the end of the month.

This is all well and good except that last year, the cities decided they didn't want to have to wait for their "Share" of Income taxes... so they broke free of the income tax system...

And this year, my taxes are $1000.00 US (10,0000 Yen)... please pay by August 31.

Now, they realized this is a lot of money to ask people who are working poor, so they gave me a payment book and three easy payments of $333.33...

Isn't that nice.

Here's the kicker: the income tax isn't going to go down to reflect this, either... nope... we just get double taxed.

I'm lucky... I live in a little town in the middle of nowhere... Maia has to pay $1500.00 in taxes.

I can't imagine what people in Tokyo pay... it's apparently also worse if you actually own anything.

To think... we threw tea off ships into Boston harbor for less than this...

---Over taxed...