In a sign the economy is growing stronger, tax revenues in fiscal 2004 rose 5.3 percent from the previous year to 45.59 trillion yen for the first increase in four years, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
People paid 14.67 trillion yen in income taxes, up 5.4 percent from the year before. Most of the increase was due to a rise in dividends earned from stocks and an improved job market in the first half of the year, a Finance Ministry official said.
Businesses, meanwhile, paid 11.44 trillion yen into government coffers, up 13.1 percent from the previous year.