October 27, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic inequalities around the world.

As measures to solve this issue, the Japanese Communist Party proposed that preferential taxes for large corporations and the wealthy be ended in order to fund measures to lower the consumption tax rate to 5% and increase the national minimum hourly wage to 1,500 yen.

This proposal corresponds with actions taken by governments of many countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., to support people struggling to survive.

In March, the British government announced its decision to extend the ongoing cut in the Value Added Tax (the consumption tax in Japan) and raise the nation’s corporation tax on large corporations to 25% from 19%.

In the following month, U.S. President Biden in his first address to Congress stressed that “it’s time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans to just begin to pay their fair share.” He proposed that the federal corporate tax rate which is set at 21% be increased to 28%. This proposal was shelved due to a fierce resistance from opponents. However, the Biden administration still seeks to force large corporations and the wealthiest to shoulder a fairer share of the tax burden.

A major U.S. digital media outlet, Vox, reported that in its recent opinion survey, 71% of voters support imposing higher taxes on the richest 2% and that U.S. citizens are strongly in favor of raising the corporate tax rate and taxes on the rich.

President Biden in his speech also pointed out that trickle-down economics did not work, showing his enthusiasm to achieve a minimum wage raise to 15 dollars (about 1,700 yen).