Japan's LDP Mulls ¥20,000 Cash Handout Per Person, with ¥40,000 for Low-Income Households, Children
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday instructed senior Liberal Democratic Party members to consider incorporating a provision of a ¥20,000 cash handout per person in the party's campaign pledges for the House of Councillors election, as part of measures to combat rising prices.
Ishiba, who is also president of the LDP, said that another ¥20,000 will be added on top of that per child or adult in resident tax-exempt households, bringing the envisaged cash benefits to ¥40,000 for them.
Ishiba also instructed senior party members to use individual bank accounts linked to My Number identification cards in order to swiftly distribute the cash handouts, as well as reduce the administrative burden on local governments.
'This is not a pork-barrel measure, but rather cash payments prioritized for those who are truly in need,' Ishiba said to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office.
The budget required for the handouts would be 'roughly estimated to be in the mid-¥3 trillion range,' Ishiba said.
The portion of tax revenue that exceeded projections is expected to be used as a source of payments, but Ishiba only said: 'We won't rely on deficit-covering government bonds. We will make decisions with the priority of definitely not worsening the fiscal situation.'
Referring to the reduction of consumption tax proposed by opposition parties, Ishiba said, 'It will benefit high-income earners, so it is not appropriate.'
The LDP had previously sought a ¥40,000 cash handout per person, but the Finance Ministry argued that it would be difficult to secure sufficient funds from tax revenue that exceeded projections. After Ishiba and party executives discussed the matter Friday, the LDP decided on setting ¥20,000 per person as the base amount for the envisaged handouts.
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