Tokyo DispatchJapan, in EnglishThe rate on food and drink would fall from 8% to 1% for two years from next spring. Polls show voters split, and a fiscal scholar says the choice between higher taxes and thinner welfare cannot be dodged.
The consumption tax on food falls to 1% for two years from April 2027, but the minority government must now win over opposition parties in the upper house.
A rice surplus has flipped prices in Aichi, where one shop is selling last year's stock at a loss, and growers in Toyota say they cannot keep going at these rates.
The government's income-linked support payment, due in fiscal 2027, works out to about ¥417 a month for low earners — a figure that has landed badly online.
The former Osaka mayor praised Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama for pushing through a bill that would cut the tax on food and drink to 1% for two years from April 2027.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says the cut in the food consumption tax will show up in prices. Supermarket and convenience store bosses say rising costs may leave them no room to pass it on.
Heating fuel is up ¥35 a liter from last winter, and some households are choosing between warmth and food.
