Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa plans to call on the ruling parties to consider an early abolition of the withholding tax on stock transactions.
"I want to ask the ruling bloc for an early simplification of the capital gains tax of stock sales so I can start reviewing capital gains tax rates," Shiokawa told the Lower House Financial Affairs Committee on Thursday.
Under the current system, stock investors can either pay a 1.05 percent withholding tax on the value of share sales, whether or not they have appreciated, or a 26 percent tax on the annual total of their capital gains by filing a separate tax return.