Photo/Illutration Kenji Kanda, the state minister of finance, during a session of the Upper House Committee on Financial Affairs on Nov. 9 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

It is simply outrageous that a lawmaker who is also a licensed tax accountant repeatedly failed to pay property taxes and is now serving as state minister of finance, which carries responsibility for tax collection.

Kenji Kanda has betrayed taxpayers and is clearly not qualified to serve as a deputy to the finance minister. If Kanda does not resign first, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida should swiftly replace him.

It emerged that foreclosure proceedings were initiated on four occasions between 2013 and 2022 due to non-payment of property taxes on land and a building owned by a company that Kanda, a Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, represents.

Kanda acknowledged the facts in the Diet and apologized after the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine broke the story, but he denied any intention to resign.

Kanda opened a tax accountant office in 2000 and was first elected to the Lower House in 2012 from Aichi No.5 electoral district. He is now serving his fourth term.

In explaining the tax payment arrears, Kanda said he was preoccupied with his parliamentary duties and left the matter to his office staff. But he offered no specifics about how the tax delinquency occurred, repeatedly stating the details are still “under scrutiny.”

In such cases, the tax authorities first urge voluntary payment by sending demand letters. Foreclosure is a last resort, and it is hard to believe that a tax expert like Kanda would allow the problem to reach that point accidentally or unknowingly, not just once but four times. It is hardly surprising that opposition lawmakers are questioning whether he was a “willful offender.”

The licensed tax accountant law defines “the mission of a tax accountant” as “seeking to ensure proper tax obligations.” As he has failed to fulfill his own tax obligations repeatedly, Kanda’s qualification as a tax accountant must be called into question.

Kanda has also admitted that he had not attended the annual training program set by the Japan Federation of Certified Public Tax Accountants’ Associations. Obviously, he has no idea about the importance of compliance with the rules and norms.

The Kishida administration’s signature policy initiatives, such as “doubling defense spending” and “different-dimension measures to stop declining birthrates,” require a significant increase in the financial burden on the taxpaying public, in the form of tax hikes.

The administration cannot hope to win public support for these policies when a senior official at the Finance Ministry, which plays the central role in working out plans to raise the necessary funds for these policy measures, has turned out to be a habitual tax delinquent.

Revelations about Kanda’s tax payment arrears have cast a renewed spotlight on the many bad picks that were made for the posts of senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries as part of the Cabinet reshuffle in September.

Already, Taro Yamada has stepped down as parliamentary vice minister of education over an extramarital affair, and Mito Kakizawa has resigned as state minister of justice for advising that paid internet advertising be utilized illegally by a candidate in a Tokyo ward mayoral election.

Appointments to the posts of senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries are mostly made simply according to recommendations from LDP factions, which act as distributors of these posts to their members. This is even more so than appointments to Cabinet ministers. The individual qualifications are not carefully weighed in the selection process.

Kishida’s favored mantra of “the right people in the right places” is nothing but an empty slogan.

Both Yamada and Kakizawa resigned promptly after their scandals came to light. If Kanda is allowed to remain in his position, Kishida’s credibility with the public will be further eroded.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 11

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