The government and the Democratic Party of Japan are facing difficulty in finding funds to finance the child allowance, an important pillar of the DPJ's election promises. They should make strenuous efforts to make the child allowance a sustainable system.
Currently the government is giving a monthly allowance of ¥13,000 per child, covering children who are third-year junior high school students or younger. The allowance is provided regardless of the level of the recipient family's income. The DPJ's manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election called for doubling the allowance from fiscal 2011. The government has recently decided to raise the allowance by ¥7,000 to ¥20,000 for children under age 3.
The fund for the ¥13,000 portion will be created by abolishing a deduction for dependents 15 years old or younger on taxable income for income tax. Thus income tax will increase from January 2011 and resident tax will increase from June 2012.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.