Stores struggle to stop customers eating takeout inside to beat tax

商家努力阻止消費者為避稅在店內吃外帶餐點

【摘要2019.11.29.自由】◎張沛元

Japan’s new two-track tax system for food and beverages is proving tough to swallow for many retailers one month after it was introduced.

日本餐飲業實施新的雙軌稅制1個月後，許多零售業者難以接受。

Convenience stores, coffee shops and shops in department stores’ basement food courts have all voiced frustration over the system.

雙軌稅制便利商店、咖啡廳與百貨公司地下室美食街，皆深感受挫。

They are complaining that while the tax rate for food and beverages to take home remains at 8 percent, the rate for food and beverages consumed at stores’ eating spaces was raised to 10 percent.

店家抱怨，外帶餐飲的稅率仍維持8%，但在店內用餐區享用餐飲的稅率，則調升至10%。

Whether out of ignorance of the tax difference or intent to cheat the system, some customers buy food or beverages at the 8 percent rate for takeout but consume them on the premises, which falls under the 10 percent rate, without telling staff they plan to do so.

無論是出於疏忽稅率有所差別還是刻意欺瞞，部分消費者以外帶的8%稅率購買食物或飲料，但卻在未告知店員的情況下於店內享用，此舉照理應以10%的稅率計價。

The behavior has spawned the new catchphrase, "tax dodging in eating spaces."

描述此等行為的新用語「內用逃稅」也應運而生。

After the new tax system was introduced in October, Doutor Coffee Co., which operates about 1,100 outlets nationwide, began pasting "Eat In" seals on its paper cups when customers choose to drink these inside.

10月實施新稅制後，全日本有約1100家分店的羅多倫咖啡，開始在內用客人的紙杯上貼「內用」貼紙。

Paper cups are usually for drinks to go.

紙杯通常用於外帶飲料。

"We did it so customers won’t feel uncomfortable using a paper cup inside our stores," a Doutor Coffee public relations official said.

「我們這麼做，客人在店內用紙杯（喝咖啡）才不會覺得不舒服，」羅多倫咖啡一名公關部人員如是說。

新聞辭典

to beat something：動詞，搶在…之前，對…採取預防措施，避免。例句：She tried to beat the traffic by leaving early in the morning.（她一早提早離開以免塞車。）

tough/hard to swallow：慣用語，難以置信或接受。例句：I found your story rather hard to swallow.（我覺得你的故事令人難以置信。）

spawn：動詞，產（卵）；生育；產生；造成，釀成。