Finance Minister Katayama said on 6 October that the planned consumption-tax cut on food and drink will be funded without special deficit-financing bonds, and set out where the money is meant to come from. Asked to back up Prime Minister Takaichi's 5 October assurance that funding was no cause for worry, Katayama pointed to the outline the cabinet approved on 15 September. See also Tokyo Brief's earlier report on preparations for the cut.
Where the money is meant to come from
Katayama said the government will work within a "budget-compilation reform" framework. It will watch tax revenue, review spending and revenue together, and work out a fiscal scale that still lets the debt-to-GDP ratio fall steadily. Within that, it will manage annual government bond issuance across the initial and supplementary budgets.
Katayama named specific levers: a more visible "Japan-style DOGE" effort, a thorough review of tax breaks, subsidies and funds to rank priorities, and a zero-based push for more non-tax revenue.
The supplementary budget takes the hit
Supplementary budgets will be limited to truly urgent measures, Katayama said. Recent supplementary budgets have carried roughly ¥3tn a year for cost-of-living relief, in each of the 2023, 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, and the content of that spending will be revisited. Katayama tied this to the current worker-burden relief payment and a "bridge" measure, which the minister said serve as inflation relief. The briefing gives no cost estimate for the tax cut and no start date.
Unlisted-share valuation: no decision
Asked about the National Tax Agency's review of how unlisted shares are valued, Katayama said no conclusion has been reached and even the direction of any revision is undecided. The work began after a 2024 Board of Audit finding that fairness across company sizes was not ensured, Katayama said, and some reports had picked the harshest of several trial calculations. The tax commission, whose chair is Onodera, will take up the topic towards year-end. Katayama added that the business succession tax scheme has an expiry date and will also be reviewed.
Other answers
On Daiwa Securities, which has said about 220,000 customer records may have leaked through a contractor, Katayama said the full picture was not yet known. The firm's response needs to be monitored closely so that trust is not lost, the minister said.
On the surge in low-value parcels from cross-border e-commerce, Katayama said customs officials and private operators will convene a forum on international logistics, including a working group with platform operators. It will discuss obtaining sales data and curbing illicit goods.
On a sovereign wealth fund, which Komeito's new leader Okamoto has urged, Katayama said Japan has none and the proposal is not yet concrete. Earning returns on existing funds is fine, the minister said, provided their original purposes are not impaired.