In recent national elections (House of Representatives and House of Councillors), established parties, including the Liberal Democratic Party, struggled to gain votes, while emerging parties made great strides. Three factors contributed to the rise of these emerging parties. First, they listened to the voices of the working generation whose wages have not increased for 30 years. Second, they listened to the voices of the “employment ice age” generation, who struggled to find work for nearly a decade after the collapse of the bubble economy. Third, they listened to the voices of the younger generation, who are familiar with social media. Why did these people speak out? Seven decades of stable government have created groups and individuals who benefit and those who do not. These three groups realized that they could no longer reap these benefits.
During the LDP’s long period in power, the tax system had become complicated and difficult to understand. This realization could be said to be the result of this election. For example, if a wife’s annual income exceeded 1.03 million yen, the spouse deduction for the husband (taxpayer) was eliminated, resulting in a sudden increase in tax burden. This created a “wall” that the household’s take-home pay decreased even as annual income increased. Furthermore, the “1.06 million yen wall” also became a hot topic. Specifically, this wall applies to part-time and casual employees who work more than 20 hours a week. This wall means that once an annual income exceeds 1.06 million yen, part-timers are required to pay social insurance premiums, reducing their take-home pay. In Japan’s labor market, which is experiencing a labor shortage, this creates an unreasonable situation that some people want to work but cannot.
The world has seen rapid economic globalization and technological innovation, and industrial structures have undergone rapid change since the end of the Cold War. Amid this, populist parties have rapidly emerged. Populist parties are strongly associated with rebellion against the elites who have run the nation. For example, populist parties have rapidly emerged in Europe and the United States, where immigration issues are also a problem. Although not as prevalent as in Europe and the United States, a populist trend seems to be emerging in Japan as well. This populist trend seems to be directed at inconvenient issues such as increasing take-home pay, the gender gap, social security, political and corporate donations, the temporary gasoline tax rate, and the reconstruction tax. This will lead to conflict between those who enjoy vested rights and those who want to abolish them, awakened to the injustice of these rights. Hopefully, a peaceful resolution will be reached.
