March 13, 2026

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Tatsumi Kotaro, at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on March 12, demanded that the Takaichi government withdraw its plan to introduce a “special defense income tax”.

The Takaichi government included the introduction of this controversial tax in its budget proposal for fiscal 2026 with the aim of securing financial resources needed to cover the 43-trillion-yen military buildup over the next five years based on the “three national security documents” which were approved by the Cabinet in 2022.

Tatsumi asked, “Has the government under the current Constitution imposed on the general public a tax hike to ensure funding for military spending?” Finance Minister Katayama Satsuki responded that there is no precedent for this sort of thing.

Tatsumi criticized the introduction of the new income tax for paving the way for military expansion-coupled tax hikes, and demanded that the government give up on implementing this plan.

In addition, Tatsumi pointed out that the U.S. Trump administration is calling on its allies to raise their overall military budget, including related expenses, to 5% of their GDP. The JCP lawmaker asked how much Japan’s military spending will actually be if it is raised to 5% of GDP.

Finance Ministry’s Budget Bureau Director-General Unami Hirotaka replied that when calculating based on the nominal GDP for FY 2026 which is predicted to reach 691.9 trillion yen, 5% of GDP amounts to 34.6 trillion yen, equivalent to 282,000 yen per capita.

Tatsumi stressed that increasing Japan’s military expenditure as demanded by President Trump will impose on the general public an additional financial burden of 282,000 yen per person, which will ruin people’s livelihoods. He said that Prime Minister Takaichi, in the upcoming Japan-U.S. summit talks slated for March 19, should clearly tell President Trump that Japan will not accept his outrageous demands for an ever higher military budget.

Past related articles:
> Tax hikes for military buildup begin [March 10, 2026]
> Raise of Japan’s military spending to 3.5% of GDP to satisfy Trump would impose annual burden of 170,000 yen per capita [January 8, 2026]