Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved plans to give tax breaks to companies that move their headquarters out of Tokyo as Japan seeks to revitalize regional economies.
Under a bill that will be put to the Diet, companies will receive a deduction on their taxes equal to 7 percent of the amount they spend building a new headquarters outside the greater Tokyo area, excluding Osaka and Nagoya. The bill also offers tax deductions for hiring employees to work in the new offices.
Tokyo accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country's economic output and more than 1,700 listed companies have their headquarters in the capital, according to Urban Research Institute Corp. Abe's government wants to create 300,000 new jobs in regional areas by 2020.