Japan ruling party reprimands ex-PM Ishiba, 3 others over tax cut Bill walkout

TOKYO – Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has reprimanded former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and three other lawmakers for walking out before last week’s vote on a Bill to cut the consumption tax for two years from April.Ishiba, who was succeeded by Sanae Takaichi as LDP president and prime minister in October 2025, became the first former party leader to face disciplinary action, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki told a press conference.The other three lawmakers who walked out ahead of the Nov 6 House of Representatives plenary vote were former LDP election strategy chief Yuko Obuchi, former Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa and Hajime Funada, a former head of the now-defunct Economic Planning Agency.The four lawmakers submitted written explanations to the party leadership by the Nov 9 deadline, outlining their reasons for defying the party’s instruction to support the Bill.Ishiba told reporters he had cited a lack of clarity over “alternative funding sources” in his explanation.“The consumption tax is used to finance social security programs, and losing that revenue source is highly problematic at a time when the required expenditures are increasing at an accelerating pace,” he said.Legislation to cut the consumption tax rate on food and beverages from 8% to 1% to help households struggling with rising living costs is a top priority for Takaichi’s government during the ongoing extraordinary parliamentary session, which runs through mid-December.The Bill passed the lower house, where the LDP and its junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, hold an overwhelming majority. KYODO NEWS