Takaichi to Make Final Call on 0% or 1% Food Tax Cut, Retaining Full Decision Authority

The final decision on whether to reduce Japan’s consumption tax rate on food to 0% or 1% will be left to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, LDP policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said on a television program on June 7, 2026. “We’re pursuing a zero percent tax rate, but the issue will require a political decision,” Kobayashi stated.

Since adjusting cash register systems for a 1% tax rate would take less time than for zero percent, implementing 1% next April is gaining support within the government and ruling parties, Japan Times reported.

Alex Saito, policy chief of the Japan Innovation Party, the LDP’s junior coalition partner, underscored the need to decide simultaneously on the size and timing of the planned temporary tax cut and the introduction of a refundable tax credit system.

Implementing a zero percent tax rate on food is Sanae Takaichi’s long-standing goal and was included in the LDP’s campaign platform for the House of Representatives election in February. The LDP won a landslide in the general election.

Mitsunari Okamoto, policy chief of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, said that the prime minister should implement the campaign pledge. “I wonder if a 1% tax rate would meet the election pledge,” said Eri Tokunaga, policy chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

Makoto Hamaguchi, policy chief of the Democratic Party for the People, criticized the planned tax cut as “too slow” and proposed social premium refunds for low- and middle-income earners by the end of the year.

Okamoto argued that a tax cut to 1% or zero percent could not help people struggling with rising prices now as it would not be implemented for nearly a year.