Kono Pledges to Abolish Tax Adjustments, Require Returns from All Citizens; Motegi Suggests Plan to ‘Remake Japan’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, September 7, 2024

Digital minister Taro Kono, who will run in the Liberal Democratic Party’s upcoming presidential election, pledged on Thursday to abolish year-end tax adjustments and require all citizens to file a tax return.

Another candidate, LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi, pledged on the same day to attract semiconductor production bases and data centers to regional areas as a growth strategy to “remake Japan.”

At his press conference on Thursday, Kono said requiring tax returns from everyone could help the government centrally manage income information and provide targeted and swift assistance. He also called for the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to be split up.

As for national security, Kono urged a review of Japan’s defense equipment system, and touched on Japan deploying nuclear submarines.

“We must discuss a strategy for controlling the point where [ships] come out of the East China Sea into the Pacific,” Kono said, with China’s maritime expansion in mind.

Motegi, meanwhile, said the overconcentration of population and industry in the Tokyo metropolitan area should be corrected. “Business hubs that create employment and knowledge hubs that attract talent are concentrated in Tokyo,” he said.

Motegi also stressed the need to reorganize ministries and agencies. Specifically, he proposed that Hello Work job placement offices be made independent and their functions be strengthened as a career support agency, and that the Natural Resources and Energy Agency be merged with the Environment Ministry to create an energy and environment ministry, which would promote a stable power supply and decarbonization in a unified manner.

Regarding Kono’s remark on nuclear submarine deployment, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Thursday, “It would be difficult for Japan to possess nuclear submarines based on the current interpretation of the Atomic Energy Basic Law.”

Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi and former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba are scheduled to announce their campaign pledges on Tuesday.