Photo/Illutration The Asahi Shimbun

A majority of ruling party candidates who won Lower House seats appear reluctant to endorse Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plans to redistribute wealth in Japan to spur economic growth.

In particular, the newly elected lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party showed little enthusiasm for increasing taxes on wealthy individuals or raising the corporate tax rate.

The largest groups in the ruling coalition would not make their stand clear on the issue, according to a survey jointly conducted by The Asahi Shimbun and a team led by Masaki Taniguchi, a professor of political science at the University of Tokyo.

The questionnaires were mailed out from Sept. 2 and responses were received from 448 of the 465 winning Lower House candidates by Oct. 31, the day the election was held.

Kishida had promoted redistribution of wealth on the campaign trail to bolster the middle class. He had earlier floated the idea of increasing the income tax rate on gains made through stock and other financial transactions when he was running in the LDP presidential election.

Regarding higher taxes for individuals with high incomes or a large number of assets, 43 percent of the LDP winners were leaning in favor of such a move. Although that was an increase from the 32 percent in the survey taken in the 2017 Lower House election, the ratio was still less than half.

Forty-eight percent of the LDP winners were undecided about the plan, down from 64 percent in 2017, and 9 percent were leaning against the idea, up from 4 percent.

A similar trend was found among the winning candidates in junior coalition partner Komeito.

While 44 percent were leaning in favor of higher taxes on the rich, 56 percent were undecided. Four years ago, the figures were 71 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

Among opposition parties, 90 percent of winners of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, 91 percent for the Democratic Party for the People and 100 percent for the Japanese Communist Party and Reiwa Shinsengumi were in favor of the tax reform.

However, only 24 percent of winning candidates in Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), which made considerable gains in the election, were leaning in favor.

The suggestion of raising the corporate tax rate also brought about a lukewarm response in the ruling coalition.

Only 17 percent of LDP winners and 6 percent of Komeito winners were leaning in favor of higher taxes for corporations.

But 51 percent of LDP winners and 81 percent of Komeito winners were undecided.

The cautious stance within the ruling coalition was reflected in the LDP’s campaign platform.

Although Kishida had called for redistribution measures, the LDP did not include a plank regarding a higher capital gains tax.

Winning candidates from the ruling coalition were also largely undecided when asked whether priority should be placed on increasing economic competitiveness or on correcting social disparities.

Sixty-six percent of LDP winners and 75 percent of Komeito winners were undecided on the choice. Four years ago, the numbers were 56 percent for the LDP and 68 percent for Komeito.

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