Japanese senior vice finance minister quits over unpaid taxes

A Japanese senior vice finance minister resigned Monday in the wake of a magazine report that said his company had failed to pay taxes, dealing another setback to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kenji Kanda, a House of Representatives lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has admitted that land and property belonging to his company was seized by authorities on four occasions between 2013 and 2022 due to the nonpayment of fixed asset taxes.

Opposition parties have lambasted Kanda, a tax accountant, over the matter, given his role in the Finance Ministry, which is in charge of taxation. Kanda is the third politician appointed by Kishida to leave the government since the Cabinet was revamped by the premier in September.

Taro Yamada stepped down as parliamentary vice education minister after it was revealed he had an extramarital affair, while Mito Kakizawa resigned as senior vice minister for justice over an alleged violation of the election law.

The fourth-term lower house member Kanda has also admitted that he had skipped compulsory annual lectures for tax accountants, as alleged in the Shukan Bunshun weekly report released in early November.

“I became busy with national political affairs and the weight of my tax accountant work decreased,” Kanda said in a parliamentary session last week. “Demand letters and other matters were left to the staff at the tax accountant’s office. I was too busy to get involved.”

The government approved the resignation of Kanda after he tendered it to Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki earlier in the day.

An opposition lawmaker, who has called Kanda a “criminal,” said his tax delinquency had given the impression that people do not have to pay taxes. Kanda apologized but initially denied he would resign as senior vice finance minister.

Kenta Izumi, chief of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said it is “too late” for Kanda to decide to step down, adding, “Questions are being raised about Prime Minister Kishida’s responsibility for the appointment.”

Izumi indicated that his party will not participate in Diet deliberations on a supplementary budget for the fiscal year through March 2024 to fund the new economic stimulus package, scheduled to start later this month, unless Kishida replaces Kanda.

Akira Koike, head of the secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party, also criticized Kishida, telling reporters, “The prime minister’s responsibility for delaying this far is significant. It is a symbol of sloppy governance.”

The approval rating of Kishida’s Cabinet, launched in October 2021, has plunged to 28.3 percent, according to the latest survey conducted by Kyodo News.

The government announced new economic measures earlier this month aimed at giving tax breaks to help households struggling with inflation, which has far outpaced wage growth, but the Cabinet’s support ratings have not recovered.

One of Kishida’s close aides has said the prime minister has decided against dissolving the lower house within the year, with some ruling party lawmakers urging him not to call a general election in the near future.

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