Tokyo DispatchJapan, in EnglishMizuoka of the Constitutional Democratic Party says the departure of Ishiba and three other Lower House members over a food tax cut bill could sway how ruling party lawmakers vote in the Upper House.
The 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.
Ishiba and three others say the consumption tax cut bill lacks a funding plan and that the money would drain from social security
The party's swift decision to discipline a former prime minister signals that Takaichi intends to enforce party discipline without debate.
The revision to the Police Duties Execution Act would let officers reach into smartphones without prior notice to target anonymous crime groups, but opposition lawmakers say the checks fall short of the wiretap law.
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.
The party's executive board issued a formal warning to Ishiba and three others who walked out before the vote, rejecting the precedent that former party presidents get lenient treatment.
The former prime minister left the lower house floor before a vote on the consumption tax cut bill. Party headquarters says no former president has ever been disciplined.
Junya Ogawa, who now heads the Democratic Reform Association, says the 48 lawmakers who left Chudo received nothing and that he will return any surplus to the state.
The former prime minister left the chamber rather than vote on a consumption tax cut. In 2012 he said lawmakers who defied the party on tax should leave it.
The bill to cut the consumption tax on food and drink and create an income-linked benefit passed the lower house with every opposition party opposed. After more than 30 hours of debate, the government has still not said how it will pay for the cut.
The finance minister dropped into a Christmas illumination event and reported the lower house passage of the consumption tax cut bill.
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.
The former justice minister criticized fellow Liberal Democrats who left the chamber before a vote on the tax-cut bill, which passed the lower house.
The former prime minister said the bill would damage Japan's finances, as the lower house passed the tax cut anyway.
China keeps pressing Tokyo to retract the prime minister's answer on Taiwan, while telling Japanese business it remains a valued economic partner.
