Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a policy speech during a Lower House plenary session on Oct. 23. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Oct. 23 that he plans to accelerate talks on returning part of the increased tax revenues to the public to help mitigate the rising cost of living.

The revenues will be “returned fairly and appropriately to ease the public’s burden of higher prices,” Kishida said in a policy speech at the beginning of an extraordinary Diet session.

He acknowledged that wage hikes have failed to keep pace with inflation.

Kishida said he will instruct the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner Komeito to consider necessary measures at their tax system research commissions “as soon as possible.”

The prime minister previously said he plans to return part of the increased tax revenues, or the fruits of economic growth, to the people, suggesting tax cuts and fiscal stimulus measures.

He also said Oct. 23 he plans to continue providing subsidies to keep gasoline prices and electricity and gas bills low until next spring.

In the policy speech, Kishida said he will give top priority to economic policies, such as achieving sustained wage hikes and alleviating the increasing cost of living.

“I will focus on the economy above anything else,” he said.

Kishida said Japan’s economy now has a chance to transform itself in a way unseen over the past three decades and that he is determined to take bold and almost unprecedented steps.

The prime minister cited “strengthening supply capacities” as a specific goal.

The government will promote large-scale investments in semiconductors and decarbonizing technologies and help small and midsize enterprises facing labor shortages spend on labor-saving initiatives, he said.

Turning to the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo, whose operating budget continues to grow, Kishida said the government will proceed with the project in a “whole-of-Japan” approach.

He said he has a strong sense of crisis about problems plaguing preparations for the expo, such as delays in the construction of pavilions by foreign countries and organizations.

Kishida also said that one of the important challenges that cannot be postponed is revising the Constitution.

“I genuinely hope that more active discussions than ever will be held to decide on specific draft clauses and other issues” in preparation for the Diet to initiate the amendment process, he said.

The extraordinary Diet session, which opened on Oct. 20, will be held over 55 days through Dec. 13.

Representatives of the ruling and opposition parties will ask questions about Kishida’s policy speech in the Lower House on Oct. 24-25 and in the Upper House on Oct. 25-26.

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