The role of tax lies in a function to redistribute wealth, relying on fair sharing of burden. It is constitutionally guaranteed as the rights to survive and to seek happiness. These rights must be protected essentially under the today’s circumstances where social gaps expand and the number of poor people increase. But the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is not ready to cope with the fact.
TAX SYSTEM MUST BE REFORMED TO RECTIFY SOCIAL GAPS AND ELIMINATE POVERTY
Uneven distribution of wealth
Tax Commissions of the ruling parties, the LDP and the Komeito, discuss tax reforms in the fiscal 2024. As for the LDP’s commission, petitioners’ groups from industries visit the organ massively every year to look for advantageous reforms to them. Meanwhile, the LDP intensifies its governance on the industries by way of taxation.
According to the monthly Toyo Keizai (October 2023), the average figure of annual incomes of the richest ten people in Japan counts 6.1461 billion yen, of which 79% is held by incomes from dividends. Only 20% tax is imposed on these people, namely the 15% of income tax and the 5% of resident tax.
In reference to the list of the richest people in Japan (the US magazine the Forbs, May 2023), the wealthiest person has assets amounting approximately 4.97 trillion yen, and even the 50th one does have 135.5 billion yen. The enormous wealth is a result of accumulation of tremendous sums of dividends and directors’ salaries, but it was originally created by workers.
Discussions in the LDP’s commission
Media report about their discussions, such as on compilation of the year-end tax reform measures. The LDP commission has the ultimate authority for decisions; the final conclusions will be announced in mid-December, covering the flat sum of tax reduction, time when to start the defense budget increase, a removal of a deduction measure on supporting children in exchange for the increased childcare benefits (extended up to 18 years of age), a tax scheme to cope with wage hikes, tax reductions on strategic items like semi-conductors and etc.
The ruling party is not interested in the tax principles even under the conditions of expanded social gaps and prevailing poverty, like the rule of ability-to-pay and the redistribution of incomes, the right to survive and the right to seek happiness.
We know several tax principles; the most needy is the right to survive. That means tax should not be imposed on the minimum living spendings and assets for survival. Its financial source should come from heavier taxation on the unearned incomes.
The successive LDP’s administrations have ignored and destroyed these values. The typical example is the preferential tax measures for securities transactions. Furthermore, the individual income tax policies have favored the very rich by dropping the highest tax rate and big businesses by extensively cutting the corporate income taxes.
The most needed is decreased consumption tax rate
People are agonized by the price surges; people’s life could be improved rapidly if the consumption tax rate is lowered, especially tax levied on food, which is indispensable for daily living. The rate must be well reduced. Originally speaking, the consumption tax must be abolished because it is imposed on everyone, even on low-income people exempted from payment of taxes.
The tremendous wealth created by the working population, who work hard with sweat, is maldistributed in the forms of large amounts of salaries of corporate directors, dividends, assets and internal reserves (amounting approximately 554 trillion yen as of the end of the year 2022).
The government has a task to realize the principle of ability-to-pay and enrich the function of redistribution: 99% of the people in the country who have created wealth have the right to recover their portions. The tax system must be reformed to this aim.
税制の役割は、所得の応能負担による再分配機能である。それは憲法の生存権・幸福追求権が保障する。格差拡大と貧困層増大の中でその実現が強く求められるが、自民党にその意思はない。
富が偏っている
24年度税制改正に向け、自公の税制調査会が議論している。自民党税調の山場では毎年、各業界の陳情団が有利な税制を求め溢れる。自民党は税制で業界への支配を強める。
『東洋経済』（23年10月）によると、日本の年収上位10人の平均は61億４６１０万円で、その内、79％が配当収入であるが、20％の課税（所得税15％＋住民税５％）に過ぎない。
また、「日本の長者番付」（米誌『フォーブス』23年５月）によると１位の資産は約４兆９７００億円、50位でも１３５５億円である。膨大な配当金や役員報酬を積み重ねた結果だが、大元は労働者が創ったものだ。
自民税調の議論
年末の税制改正大綱策定に向けた議論が報道されている。実質的な決定権は自民党税調がもつ。そこでは、定額減税、防衛費増税の開始時期、児童手当拡充（18歳まで延長）に伴う扶養控除の除外、賃上げ税制、半導体などの戦略物資減税等々が議論され、決定は12月中旬とされる。
格差拡大と貧困層増大の中で、税制の原則である「応能負担」「所得の再分配」「生存権」「幸福追求権」の理念は薄い。
税制の原則はいくつかあるが、いま特に必要なのは生存権重視で、「最低生活費・生存的財産非課税」である。そして、その財源措置としての「不労所得重課税」である。
自民党は、この原則を放置し、破壊し続けてきた。「証券優遇税制」はその典型である。さらに個人所得税は、最高税率引下げによって大金持ちを優遇し、大企業の法人所得税は大幅減税してきた。
消費税減税こそ
物価高騰にあえぐ人々の暮らしを一挙に改善するには、消費税減税、特に日々消費せざるを得ない食料品等の大幅な減税である。そもそも消費税は、本来非課税の低所得層も課税される大衆課税であり、廃止されるべきものである。
働く人々が汗水たらして創ってきた莫大な富は、経営者の多額の報酬・配当金・資産・内部留保（22年度末で約５５４兆円）などとして偏在する。
応能負担・分配機能を充実させ、富を創ってきた99％の人々はその富を取り戻す権利がある。そのための税制改革こそ求められている。
英訳版↓
No. 1335 Tax Reform in Fiscal 2024
The role of tax lies in a function to redistribute wealth, relying on fair sharing of burden. It is constitutionally guaranteed as the rights to survive and to seek happiness. These rights must be protected essentially under the today’s circumstances where social gaps expand and the number of poor people increase. But the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is not ready to cope with the fact.
TAX SYSTEM MUST BE REFORMED TO RECTIFY SOCIAL GAPS AND ELIMINATE POVERTY
Uneven distribution of wealth
Tax Commissions of the ruling parties, the LDP and the Komeito, discuss tax reforms in the fiscal 2024. As for the LDP’s commission, petitioners’ groups from industries visit the organ massively every year to look for advantageous reforms to them. Meanwhile, the LDP intensifies its governance on the industries by way of taxation.
According to the monthly Toyo Keizai (October 2023), the average figure of annual incomes of the richest ten people in Japan counts 6.1461 billion yen, of which 79% is held by incomes from dividends. Only 20% tax is imposed on these people, namely the 15% of income tax and the 5% of resident tax.
In reference to the list of the richest people in Japan (the US magazine the Forbs, May 2023), the wealthiest person has assets amounting approximately 4.97 trillion yen, and even the 50th one does have 135.5 billion yen. The enormous wealth is a result of accumulation of tremendous sums of dividends and directors’ salaries, but it was originally created by workers.
Discussions in the LDP’s commission
Media report about their discussions, such as on compilation of the year-end tax reform measures. The LDP commission has the ultimate authority for decisions; the final conclusions will be announced in mid-December, covering the flat sum of tax reduction, time when to start the defense budget increase, a removal of a deduction measure on supporting children in exchange for the increased childcare benefits (extended up to 18 years of age), a tax scheme to cope with wage hikes, tax reductions on strategic items like semi-conductors and etc.
The ruling party is not interested in the tax principles even under the conditions of expanded social gaps and prevailing poverty, like the rule of ability-to-pay and the redistribution of incomes, the right to survive and the right to seek happiness.
We know several tax principles; the most needy is the right to survive. That means tax should not be imposed on the minimum living spendings and assets for survival. Its financial source should come from heavier taxation on the unearned incomes.
The successive LDP’s administrations have ignored and destroyed these values. The typical example is the preferential tax measures for securities transactions. Furthermore, the individual income tax policies have favored the very rich by dropping the highest tax rate and big businesses by extensively cutting the corporate income taxes.
The most needed is decreased consumption tax rate
People are agonized by the price surges; people’s life could be improved rapidly if the consumption tax rate is lowered, especially tax levied on food, which is indispensable for daily living. The rate must be well reduced. Originally speaking, the consumption tax must be abolished because it is imposed on everyone, even on low-income people exempted from payment of taxes.
The tremendous wealth created by the working population, who work hard with sweat, is maldistributed in the forms of large amounts of salaries of corporate directors, dividends, assets and internal reserves (amounting approximately 554 trillion yen as of the end of the year 2022).
The government has a task to realize the principle of ability-to-pay and enrich the function of redistribution: 99% of the people in the country who have created wealth have the right to recover their portions. The tax system must be reformed to this aim.
December 20, 2023