Kathleen Weller's June 6 letter, "Collection of unpaid ward taxes," refers to a different case of ward office brutality. The woman I wrote about earlier does not know Ms. Weller. The woman did partially pay her ward taxes over the last five years — ¥20,000 to ¥30,000 every few months. She was explicitly threatened with having everything she owns taken from her if she didn't.
Her entire salary has been impounded three times — not in the last 12 months as I originally wrote — but in the last five months. There was no advance notice. She was left penniless each time.
In other countries, I understand that such predation on one's personal bank account is forbidden by law. And to take away a person's entire livelihood, as well as inflicting mental torture, in the name of meeting some bureaucratic quota is surely a crime against basic human rights.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.