The Japan
Times - Feb 8, 2000.
Myanmar citizens see dual taxation as incentive to
overstay
By TAKUYA ASAKURA
Staff writer
The Feb. 18 revision of
the Immigration Control Law has prompted many undocumented foreigners to
return home, but some Myanmar citizens are unable even to go through
deportation procedures because they find it hard to pay overdue taxes to their
government.
The Myanmar citizens said they cannot obtain or renew
passports needed for deportation from Japan because they cannot pay taxes
imposed by the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo. The taxes can be hefty for those who
contact the mission for the first time after illegally working in Japan for
years.
The embassy levies a tax of 10,000 yen per month on all Myanmar
citizens who are living in Japan illegally, regardless of how much they earn.
Those living here legally pay more, said an official at the
mission.
Nearly 10,000 Myanmar citizens are estimated to be living in
Japan, most of them without proper visas, according to the People's Forum on
Burma, a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization.
Because many
undocumented Myanmar citizens do not pay the regular levies, they face a huge
amount of taxes when they visit the embassy to obtain documents such as a
passport to return home.
Most foreigners working in Japan pay income
taxes to the central government and usually do not have to pay any additional
levy to their home governments, due to bilateral agreements between Japan and
their mother countries aimed at preventing double taxation.
Japan and
Myanmar do not have such an agreement. "This is a rare case," a Foreign
Ministry official said.
A Myanmar man who visited the Tokyo Regional
Immigration Bureau last week to submit to deportation procedures said he had
paid the embassy 120,000 yen in taxes and 90,000 yen for a new passport. He
said he came to Japan by ship without a proper passport two years
ago.
The man, who declined to be named, said the embassy halved his
levy after he explained that he could not get a job for the first
year.
He showed The Japan Times a paper with signatures that serves as
a provisional passport, and a receipt for 90,000 yen from the embassy. He also
took out a bank remittance record for 120,000 yen, saying the embassy does not
issue receipts or bills for the tax.
Although he may have been lucky,
some of his compatriots have been told to pay over 1 million yen after staying
here for about a decade.
The Myanmar Embassy official said taxpayers
can pay the rest when they return home if they cannot pay the full amount. He
said the minimum they must pay here varies "according to taxpayers'
abilities."
However, some Myanmar citizens claim the embassy will not
issue passports unless they pay at least some part of the whole amount, which
many cannot afford.
One Myanmar man said he faces more than 1 million
yen in unpaid taxes. The man, who requested anonymity, has overstayed his visa
by nearly 10 years.
The man said in fluent Japanese that he has a
Japanese wife and son. However, he said, Japanese authorities have not
officially recognized his marriage because he could not obtain a marriage
certificate from the embassy due to the unpaid taxes.
He had a copy of
a filled-in marriage registration form in Japanese and a memo from his local
administrative office that said in Japanese, "Please submit a marriage
certificate from the Myanmar Embassy."
A Japanese doctor who runs a
clinic in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward said he knew of at least three Myanmar men who
died here in 1999 due to illnesses -- two from AIDS and the other from cancer.
They were unable to return home and spend their last days with their families
because they could not pay the taxes and obtain passports, he
said.
Many undocumented foreign laborers, besides not being covered by
Japanese health insurance, develop illnesses from overwork under harsh
conditions, the doctor said.
He declined to be named, saying he does
not want an unfavorable relationship with the embassy because he must
negotiate with officials there on behalf of his patients.
"When I have
patients who will not live much longer, I try to help them return home before
they die," he said.
The tax imposed by the embassy is a heavy burden
for many Myanmar citizens because they normally earn only about 70 percent of
the wages paid to Japanese engaged in similar work, the doctor said. In
addition, many of those who illegally entered Japan owe 1 million yen to 2
million yen to brokers who smuggled them here.
"I would not say (to the
embassy) stop the taxation. I am asking for exceptional pardons for those who
are suffering illness," the doctor said.
The embassy official said
those hospitalized or held by police to be deported are exempted from taxes.
He noted that the embassy takes the situation of each individual into account,
adding that such considerations are made at its discretion.
The doctor
said he knows the embassy has given discounts to some people but noted that
those who died in Japan could not pay even the reduced amount.
While
many Myanmar citizens declined to talk, apparently in fear of trouble with
their embassy and compatriots, Khine San Kyaw, who is seeking refugee status
here, said many of his compatriots in Japan do not want to pay the tax because
the money is supporting the military junta back home.
"The embassy does
nothing to help us and only takes money from us," San Kyaw said. "How can the
embassy take money from people who are not supposed to stay in Japan?" he
asked, reckoning the embassy is effectively condoning illegal stays by
collecting taxes from them.
The embassy official said, "The problem
sits on the side of those who do not fulfill their duties."
Japanese
immigration officials said they cannot do anything about the matter, noting it
is an internal affair of the Myanmar government.
The Foreign Ministry
is also aware of the problem. "(The tax) seems to be a heavy burden for the
people," a ministry official said.
He said the ministry has recently
contacted the embassy to ask for flexibility in the payment of the tax. But
negotiations for a bilateral agreement to avoid double taxation is still not
on the agenda, he said.
Shogo Watanabe, a Tokyo-based lawyer who has
provided legal assistance to many Myanmar citizens, said he fears the embassy
will not welcome such a taxation agreement because the money collected here is
a significant source of funds for the
junta.
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