News about Japan

[Tom MoodyParticipant]

Stop Wasting Taxpayers’ Money: Insights from the Japan-US Innovation Summit

In Japan, there is a peculiar variety of daytime TV shows known as “wideshow” (ワイドショー). The wideshow is a hybrid of news, pseudo-political discussion, and telemarketing for facial toning products. Panels can consist of not-so-busy lawyers, comedians, and magicians. Characterized by a notably left-wing bias, these programs often present skewed images of Japanese taxpayers’ sentiment concerning current affairs. Such cases include the scale of opposition to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and support for a system of separate surnames for married couples. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plummeting support ratings are another more recent example.

What about public reaction to tax increases? The tax burden has increased from 20% in the 1970s to 45%. Japan seeks to increase its defense spending to approximately ¥8.9 trillion JPY ($67.47 billion USD) by fiscal 2027. This would be almost ¥4 trillion JPY ($30.33 billion USD) more than its current budget. However, the government plans to raise corporate, income, and tobacco taxes to secure the necessary financial resources. Wideshows were quick to report that a majority of citizens oppose a tax hike to finance increased defense spending. As always, though, they missed the crux of the matter. Citizens are not only against such tax increases. They also have a better solution.

0

0

[Author]

Posts