2026 POLLS: Most Parties Pledge to Cut Consumption Tax

Tokyo, Jan. 27 (Jiji Press)–Most major Japanese political parties have pledged a consumption tax cut in their campaigning for the Feb. 8 election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party pledged to speed up talks to exempt the tax for food products for two years. The Centrist Reform Alliance, an opposition party newly formed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, aims to make a zero food consumption tax permanent this autumn. Those pledges are designed to win over voters as households struggle with rising prices. As caution over lax fiscal policy spreads on financial markets, how to finance the tax cut will also be a focus of the campaigning. The LDP ruled out a consumption tax cut in its campaigning for last year’s election for the House of Councillors, the upper Diet chamber, saying that such a measure has no immediate effect. This time, the LDP pushes for a consumption tax cut as Takaichi’s priority policy goal. A suprapartisan national council will discuss how the tax cut will be financed and when it will start, the party said. The LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, supports the proposal. In the Upper House election, the party advocated a two-year zero consumption tax. JIP co-leader Fumitake Fujita said that his party will lead efforts to bring the initiative forward. The Centrist Reform Alliance aims to reduce the food consumption tax to zero, starting this autumn, financed by the use of existing funds, surpluses from special government accounts and proceeds from a proposed sovereign wealth fund. Yoshihiko Noda, co-leader of the new party, said that the schemes will help alleviate market concerns about the country’s fiscal health. The Democratic Party for the People proposed a uniform reduction in the consumption tax rate to 5 pct from the current 10 pct until the pace of wage growth exceeds that of price increases. The Japanese Communist Party suggested lowering the consumption tax to 5 pct as a step toward abolishing it. Other parties, including Reiwa Shinsengumi, Sanseito and the Social Democratic Party, proposed abolishing the tax, while the Conservative Party of Japan called for the tax on food items to be reduced to zero permanently. Team Mirai did not include a tax cut in its campaign pledges, prioritizing a reduction in social insurance premiums. On policy about foreigners, the LDP aims to introduce a system to monitor real estate acquisitions by non-Japanese. Sanseito, which advocates for a “no immigration nation,” is calling for visa restrictions and a crackdown on illegal immigration. The Centrist Reform Alliance seeks to create a society in which people can live with mutual respect. The LDP calls for revising Japan’s three key security-related documents ahead of schedule in order to increase defense spending. The Centrist Reform Alliance signaled a policy change that effectively allows the country’s use of collective self-defense rights. On the issue of politics and money, the LDP prefers greater transparency about political donations by companies and organizations over a ban on such donations. In contrast, the JIP aims to ban such donations. The Centrist Reform Alliance and the DPFP are calling for restrictions on political donations. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]