Tax cuts won’t stop China’s flush of enthusiasm for buying toilet seats in Japan: finance official
Japanese toilet seats were the 'must-have' item on the shopping lists of Chinese travellers during Lunar New Year, Japan's media says
Cutting down consumption tax and tariffs will do little to discourage Chinese consumers from buying toilet seats in Japan it seems, a Chinese finance official says.
Japanese toilet seats – including those with in-built heating and warm water shower functions – were the “must-have” item on the shopping lists of Chinese travellers during Lunar New Year, Japanese media said.
Hefty consumption taxes and tariffs are believed to have encouraged many mainlanders to shop abroad for luxury goods – as well as daily necessities such as Japanese toilet seats.
This has led to calls for tax cuts to encourage mainlanders to buy these things at home to boost domestic consumption.
However, Shi Yaobin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Finance, said today that simply cutting taxes would not lead to a change in people’s shopping habits.
“Mainland tourists bought luxury goods as well as daily necessaries in Japan during the Lunar New Year holiday – I heard that also included toilet seats,” Shi told a press briefing in Beijing today.
“If we reduced or stopped consumption taxes, or maybe tariffs, so imported goods were cheaper to buy, would it mean that people would stop shopping abroad, or start buying these goods on the mainland? I really don’t think that would happen.”
Shi said travellers often bought things for different reasons while on holiday, including buying foreign items as gifts for family members and friends.
Some mainland tourists have started to use containers to ship large quantities of items bought in Japan, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.
One white-collar worker, identified as Xu Dong, from Shanghai, told the newspaper he had been “shocked” the first time he saw all the products his friend had shipped from Japan inside a 1.5 metre-high cargo container.
“There were so many things I can hardly remember them all clearly – three TV sets, two or three air conditioners, several stereos – also toilet seats and air purifiers.”
Xu told the newspaper his friend had spent about 200,000 yuan (about HK$250,000), including the delivery fee.
Yet the price was cheaper and a “better guarantee” of quality than if he had bought the same items on the mainland, he told the newspaper.
