Tax revenue in December decreased 12.2 percent from a year earlier to 2.28 trillion yen, marking the 16th consecutive monthly fall, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
December's sharp decline was mainly due to a drop in revenue from the tax on maturing long-term postal savings. As a result, cumulative revenue for the April-December period came to 24.4 trillion yen, down 13.1 percent from the previous year. A total of 44.28 trillion yen in tax revenue is projected for the full fiscal year, which ends in March.
In a breakdown of overall revenue, income tax revenue slipped 21.5 percent to 977.96 billion yen, while corporate tax revenue dropped 7.7 percent to 211.22 billion yen. Inheritance tax revenue also fell 14.1 percent to 147.07 billion yen, and consumption tax revenue was down 1.7 percent to 263.07 billion yen, the ministry said.