By KUNIAKI NISHIO/ Staff Writer
December 24, 2022 at 14:22 JST
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, and members of his Cabinet meet Dec. 23 to approve the fiscal 2023 budget proposal. (Koichi Ueda)
The government approved a record draft budget for the next fiscal year that includes a massive and highly controversial increase in defense spending.
The initial fiscal 2023 budget approved Dec. 23 by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet comes to 114.381 trillion yen ($861 billion), marking the 11th straight year of record expenditures.
While budgets since fiscal 2020 ballooned to cover programs to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, the latest proposal sets aside 6.822 trillion yen for defense alone for a year-on-year increase of 1.421 trillion yen.
For comparison, the combined increase in defense spending over the past 30 years reached around 1 trillion yen.
The Kishida Cabinet has already approved a massive five-year defense buildup totaling an eye-popping 43 trillion yen, give or take small change.
The increase in defense spending for fiscal 2023 brings that expenditure second only to social welfare programs, which will make up about one-third of total outlays. A record 36.889 trillion yen is earmarked for spending on social security, a 1.7 percent rise over the previous fiscal year.
Defense spending in 2023 will exceed the 6.06 trillion yen set aside for public works projects, as well as education and science promotion at 5.416 trillion yen.
The sharp increase will force the government to decide early next year where to come up with funds for programs to deal with the declining birth rate. The government has already approved handouts of 100,000 yen to expectant mothers.
It has also approved tax increases to the tune of about 1 trillion yen by fiscal 2027 to pay for defense. But it remains to be seen where revenue sources will be found to fund programs to help raise the birth rate.
About the only bright prospect in the budget is the expected record 69.44 trillion yen in tax revenues, due mainly to improved corporate profits and consumption tax windfalls from the surge in consumer prices triggered by the war in Ukraine.
But that record figure will not be enough to pay for all government programs. For that reason, the government plans to issue 35.623-trillion-yen worth of government bonds in fiscal 2023.
Construction bonds will also be used to pay for the purchase of destroyers and submarines as well as repairs to Self-Defense Forces facilities. Bonds were last used for defense purposes to fund Japan’s reckless and devastating foray into World War II.
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EDITORIAL: Kishida’s plans to bolster defense require thorough and clear debate
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VOX POPULI: Rush to change defense policy is putting Japan on a perilous path
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