JCP vows fairer taxes, stronger social safety net and a commitment to peaceful diplomacy

Japan Times

14 hours ago

Sunday's Upper House vote will be an election of historic significance for the future of Japan. The Japanese Communist Party will do everything in its power to help voters drive the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito into a minority in the House of Councilors and bring an end to LDP rule.
Like millions of voters, we call out the LDP-Komeito conservative coalition and call for equally harsh judgment of their complementary forces — Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People. As the oldest political party in Japan, we will resolutely fight against xenophobia and extreme right-wing trends.
The LDP's politics are now in a terminal and critical state with the party unable to respond to domestic and international issues or the wishes of the people. Many people are suffering from rising prices, yet the LDP is completely ill-equipped. Its members offer only short-term repairs — not long-term solutions — to the surge in rice prices and rice shortages.
Pensions, medical care, nursing care and social security — all are in a growing state of crisis and the ruling coalition is heading down a path that will only make things worse. Real wages have been negative for three consecutive years, yet no one is taking political responsibility to raise wages and provide relief for Japan's workers. At the root of all this is the distortion of politics that prioritizes the interests of the business world and large corporations.
On the foreign-policy front, Japan's challenges are just as great. How should we deal with President Donald Trump's America? Should we continue down the path of military expansion as Washington tells us to? How should we respond to the Trump administration's unjust tariffs? Or being forced to construct a new U.S. military base in Okinawa and turn our backs on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons? Can we continue to be at the mercy of America?
The JCP believes that if we want to realize the earnest wishes of the people, we need to reform the LDP's 'business-centered' politics and stop putting ourselves at the mercy of the person in the White House. The expansion of the JCP, which cuts into these two distortions, is a sure way to improve Japanese politics and our nation's standing in the world. Please help our party make a breakthrough in this historic election by voting for the JCP candidate in your area.
Our basic policies have remained consistent throughout the years and always put the interests of the average Japanese worker first. As a party that has consistently advocated for the abolition of the consumption tax, the JCP will do its utmost to urgently reduce the consumption tax to 5% with the aim of abolishing it.
The big problem is how to secure the funds for this. We propose ending the tax-cut handouts to large corporations, which Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says he regrets and has admitted are 'ineffective.' We will fund the abolishment of the consumption tax by correcting the tax cuts and preferential treatment for large corporations and the wealthy, including reviewing the preferential tax system for the wealthy commonly referred to as the '¥100-million wall' because tax burdens relative to income drop for earners of more than ¥100 million.
In addition, we will promptly raise the minimum wage to ¥1,500 per hour, aiming for ¥1,700. To achieve this, we will impose a temporary tax on a portion of the internal reserves of large companies, which have accumulated to over ¥500 trillion, and use the resulting financial resources to support wage increases for small and medium-sized enterprises. In conjunction with wage increases, we will reduce working hours and increase 'free time,' while improving the treatment of nonregular workers and eliminating unjust termination of employment.
On the agricultural front, we will change the erroneous policy of forcing rice farmers to reduce their acreage and production, and promote increased rice production, ensuring a comfortable supply and demand, as well as price guarantees and income compensation for farmers.
The politics of pitting the elderly against the working generation and cutting social security have increased the hardships of all generations, dampened consumption, stirred up anxiety about the future and contributed greatly to economic stagnation. We will change this and work to improve social security. In terms of political reform, we will ban corporate and organizational donations and eliminate money-based corruption.
For younger people, we will aim to make tuition free up to university. We will increase public education spending to the OECD minimum level and improve poor educational conditions. We will also correct excessive competition and management in education, while creating a rent-reduction and rent-subsidy system and promoting the construction and supply of public housing.
On the foreign-policy front, we will reject the Trump administration's demand for a massive military expansion, stop the creation of a warring nation based on the Japan-U.S. alliance and devote our efforts to diplomacy to build peace in East Asia. To address the climate crisis, we will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75%-80% by 2035, phase out nuclear and coal-fired power plants and promote a shift to renewable energy and energy conservation.
Last but not least, we will promote gender equality, including optional separate surnames for married couples, the early realization of same-sex marriage and the correction of the wage gap between men and women. We will also continue to work to eradicate discrimination and hate speech against foreign nationals, protect the rights of foreign workers and promote the revision of immigration laws in accordance with international human-rights law.
Tomoko Tamura is the chairwoman of the Japanese Communist Party.
In the lead-up to the July 20 Upper House election, The Japan Times reached out to the nation's major political parties requesting an op-ed for our Opinion pages on why this election is so crucial and why their party deserves the citizens' vote. We are publishing all those who responded.