Japan State Minister Resigns Over Tax Scandal in Blow For PM

Erica Yokoyama and Isabel Reynolds
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- A state minister at Japan’s Finance Ministry submitted his resignation over his company’s failure to pay taxes, adding to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s woes as his support rates tumble to their lowest since he took office.

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Kenji Kanda, a lawmaker in Kishida’s long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party and himself a certified tax accountant, resigned Monday after acknowledging a company he runs had failed to pay taxes and had been punished by having assets seized.

The scandal is the third to lead to the resignation of a junior minister in the space of less than a month, risking further damage to already weak support for Kishida’s government. His approval rates have slumped below 30%, a level often seen as the danger zone for a Japanese premier.

“I wanted to avoid creating a disturbance in parliament over my problems,” Kanda told reporters Monday. “I’ve submitted a letter of resignation to Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki earlier today.”

Kanda is a relatively little-known figure — not to be confused with Masato Kanda, the senior Finance Ministry bureaucrat who oversees Japan’s currency policy. Yet Kishida is likely to face fresh criticism for appointing him to a senior position in charge of the nation’s budget.

Japan’s Unpopular Premier Drops Idea of Election This Year

Support for the premier has tumbled in recent months, as polls show voters are dissatisfied with Kishida’s efforts to help households cope with the effects of inflation, and concerned about the prospect of future tax hikes to fund ambitious defense and family support plans.

A survey carried out by broadcaster FNN on Nov. 11-12 found his support had fallen 7.8 percentage points from the previous month to 27.8%.

Asked who would be the most suitable person to be the next prime minister, just 2.8% of respondents picked Kishida, putting him in sixth place. First place went to Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister who has distanced himself from the Kishida government.

--With assistance from Emi Urabe.

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