Kishida Insists On Tax Hike To Fund Japan's Defense Budget

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expressed his intention to raise taxes in stages toward fiscal 2027 to fund a drastic enhancement of Japan’s defense capabilities, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Photo Insert: Kishida rejected the possibility of issuing government bonds to fund defense spending.

“It is essential to have the financial resources to sustain defense capability in order to maintain and strengthen it into the future,” Kishida said during a press conference on Saturday evening.

He rejected the possibility of issuing government bonds to fund defense spending, saying, “We cannot take this path, considering our responsibility to future generations.”

Kishida stressed the government would decide on the funding policy at the end of the year, aiming to increase annual tax revenues to ¥1 trillion in fiscal 2027. He did not specify the timing of any tax hikes, saying it would be “flexible.”

Regarding the possibility of dissolving the House of Representatives and holding a general election or reshuffling the Cabinet, Kishida said he is “not at all thinking about those matters.”

He also said that the government intends to check the effectiveness of the comprehensive economic measures, which were formulated during the extraordinary Diet session, through the system to “check the progress of all projects in the supplementary budget on a weekly basis and aggregate the results.”

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