Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to delay the consumption tax hike to 10 percent, originally planned for next October, for 18 months and has dissolved the Lower House to seek the voters' judgment on his decision.
Certainly the tax hike and the timing of its enforcement may be important, considering the enormous size of the government's debt. But equally important is the fact that the primary role of taxes — the redistribution of money for social security and welfare purposes — has almost been neglected and paralyzed, hidden by the top priority of reducing the debt.
Among people prevails a sense of resignation that the tax they pay is like a kind of insurance without payouts, so that in the end they regard tax only as a cost they should minimize and possibly avoid as much as they can. We have to re-examine the meaning of tax in general — not just the consumption tax and its rate.