How to finance military spending when funds are insufficient? Japan is turning to corporate taxation.
On the 17th, Kyodo News reported that the Japanese government is considering further increasing the corporate tax rate to cover the growing shortfall in defense expenditures.
For the fiscal year 2027, the Ministry of Defense has preliminarily requested a budget of 8.89 trillion yen. However, media reports indicate that the defense budget proposal includes numerous unspecified "pending items," suggesting the final figure could reach 10 trillion yen. Over the next five years, total defense spending may expand to between 70 and 80 trillion yen.
Given such a substantial funding gap, simply printing money is not a viable solution. As a result, the government is now contemplating an increase in corporate taxes—internal discussions have already produced a preliminary framework.
In fact, this approach is not unprecedented. In recent years, the Japanese government has consistently expanded taxation under various pretexts. Yet these revenues have not been directed toward social welfare or infrastructure—public service spending has even seen reductions—instead being channeled into defense budgets. The government has introduced measures such as a "special defense corporate tax" and a "special defense income tax," openly acknowledging that tax increases are intended to support military expansion.
At its core, the current Japanese administration shares ideological similarities with Japan prior to World War II: both seek to resolve internal contradictions through military expansion or even war, without regard for the long-term consequences or costs of such short-sighted policies.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1879385940536329/
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