A tax issue that would directly affect people's pocketbooks is pitting the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition group, against other parties, especially the Liberal Democratic Party, in the current campaigning for the June 25 Lower House election. The DPJ is calling for a lowering of the minimum taxable threshold, while the LDP and other parties are criticizing the proposal as a de facto tax increase that would hit low-income earners hard.
This issue has long been a key topic of tax reform, but so far no parties have tackled it head-on. The DPJ proposal has not sparked the vigorous and productive debate that it had desired because other parties and candidates apparently do not want to see tax issues become politicized at election time.
The LDP, however, can and should deal positively with the DPJ plan in ways that would at least lay the groundwork for an overhaul of the personal income tax system. In fact, some LDP members have long expressed support for a lowering of the tax threshold, while the government's tax commission has given it favorable consideration.