Japan floats a payment of about ¥30,000 a year for 20 million lower-paid workers.
0.4%
of agree votes blamed the voters who chose this
3,186 comments read to the bottom · every number is below
The most-agreed comment
¥30,000 a year is ¥2,500 a month. Some households are seeing their loan repayments rise by tens of thousands of yen a month because of the Bank of Japan's rate rises - calling a pittance like this "easing the burden" is a drop in the ocean. In other developed countries, refundable tax credits are meant to boldly raise take-home pay and lift people's will to work, but Japan's just spends a fortune on admin to hand out small sums. If you have money to hand out, cut social insurance premiums in the first place. How long will they keep melting tax money and admin costs on these cosmetic handouts that just take and give back? Unless they reform things so less comes out of our pay at the root, for those of us working on the ground, we've reached our limit.
Show original Japanese
年3万は月2500円です。日銀の利上げでローンの支払いが月数万増える家庭もあるのに、これっぽっちで負担軽減と言われても焼け石に水です。
そもそも先進国の給付付き税額控除はもっと大胆に手取りを増やして働く意欲を底上げする仕組みなのに、日本のはただ多額の事務費をかけて少額を配るだけ。配るお金があるなら最初から社会保険料を下げてほしいです。取って配るだけの小手先のバラマキにいつまで税金と事務費を溶かすんでしょうか。給与から引かれる負担を根本から減らす改革をしてくれないと、現場で働く身としてはもう限界です。My lady's reading
This is what I thought when I saw the article.
People who needlessly drag themselves down - and still go and vote.
The working generation, of all people, dragging things down: a generation running on resentment.
That is my reading.
Some of it can be counted. Did this thread write about the people who cast the votes? How much of the vote did the working generation's resentment get here? And where was that resentment aimed?
The news
At 4:34pm on 17 October 2026, Kyodo News published a story on Yahoo! News.
The government, it said, had shown the ruling and opposition parties a plan for a new cash payment linked to income. In fiscal 2027 and 2028, when it would begin, about 20 million people would get an average of around ¥30,000 a year each. The government called the plan "one reference".
It would go to people in work, on middle or lower incomes, who carry a heavy burden of tax and social insurance. The cap may fall somewhere in the ¥3 million range of individual annual income, the article says. The name is the "support payment to ease the burden on working people", paid in cash, as a rule once a year. In fiscal 2027 and 2028, when the consumption tax on food and drink is cut to 1%, it would be funded with about ¥600 billion a year - 1% worth of the tax. From fiscal 2029, when the rate goes back to 8%, it would grow. The amount would be set in four steps, so that take-home pay rises gradually.
On the 14th, Prime Minister Takaichi had told the lower house budget committee that the number of people covered would be around 20 million - "purely as a reference". The bills combining the food tax cut and the payment go before the lower house on the 20th, and the government and ruling parties want to settle the details by taking in the opposition's ideas, the article ends.
Context for readers outside Japan
Japan's consumption tax is a sales tax, currently 10% on most things and 8% on food bought to take home. The government plans to cut the rate on food to 1% for two years. Japan's fiscal year runs from April to March. Taxes and social insurance premiums are taken straight out of pay, and many working people feel that what they take home keeps shrinking. The comment section below the article on Yahoo! News Japan is one of the busiest public forums in the country. Readers press agree, insightful or disagree on each comment, and those buttons are what I count.
91 to 9 - 3,186 comments, about 14 hours in
I read all 3,186 parent comments, as they stood between 6:41 and 6:46am on 18 October, about 14 hours after publication. When I loaded them, the site listed 3,202; 16 could not be loaded. At about 6:41am, the article showed 3,832 comments in total.
The buttons came to 62,004 agree, 1,816 insightful and 5,974 disagree presses. Positive presses against push-back stand at 91 to 9.
The vote leans towards the top. The first comment alone holds 27.5% of the agree presses, the top 3 48.7%, the top 10 76.0%. Meanwhile 1,371 of the 3,186 comments - 43.0% - did not receive a single agree press.
And this thread was close to unanimous. The 2,830 comments - 88.8% of the thread - against the payment, or doubtful about it, hold 98.3% of the agree presses. The 79 in favour hold 0.8%.
At the top: "We've reached our limit"
(This is the most-agreed comment, shown at the top of this page.)
This is the top comment in the thread: 17,052 agree, 528 insightful and 995 disagree presses, with 206 replies. It holds 27.5% of all the agree presses.
Most of where this thread's votes went is packed into this one comment. The 268 comments saying handing it out costs admin money and effort hold 43.3% of the agree presses. The 390 asking for lower taxes and social insurance instead, to raise take-home pay, hold 43.2%. The 256 saying don't take it and then hand it back hold 39.9%.
And then the last line - for those of us working on the ground, we've reached our limit. The 368 comments voicing working people's resentment - we only ever get taken from, we work and still struggle - make up 11.6% of the thread and hold 54.8% of the agree presses. Even without this one, they hold 27.3%. The 9th comment (1,431 agree) says the writer studied hard, worked themselves to the bone and finally earns a decent income - yet the handouts always go to people on low incomes.
The comment my lady shared: 2nd
It's a mystery to me that Japan still feels like a developed country. Stop clinging to past glories. Getting by on redistributing taxes won't fix the underlying problem. People work and still can't make ends meet. And now, with no real economic recovery, the Bank of Japan has raised interest rates. This is truly what comes of handing the LDP power again and again - Japan, a mud boat that can only sink. Isn't there at least one party that would reform things?
日本がまだ先進国と感じているのが不思議。過去の栄光にすがるな。税金の再分配でしのいでも根本的な解決にはつながらない。働いても生活が苦しい。ここにきて、ろくに景気回復していないのに日銀が金利上げた。本当に自民党なんかに与党与え続けた結果、沈むだけの泥船日本。改革してくれる政党が１つくらいないかな。It is 2nd by votes in this thread, with 7,789 agree, 129 insightful and 410 disagree presses, and 74 replies - 12.6% of the agree presses.
People work and still can't make ends meet - this comment, too, voices working people's resentment. And it aims it at the LDP and the Bank of Japan. The 870 comments blaming the government, the LDP or PM Takaichi hold 25.8% of the agree presses, and about half of that is this one comment.
It also says this is what comes of handing the LDP power again and again. Those who kept handing it power are the voters. But what this comment blames is the LDP, and that is how I counted it.
Checking my lady's reading
My lady said: people who needlessly drag themselves down - and still go and vote.
59 of the 3,186 comments said the voters brought this on themselves, or that those who chose this are to blame. They hold 0.4% of the agree presses - 240 in all. 53 of the 59 got five agree presses or fewer, and 19 got none. 38 named the LDP or PM Takaichi and blamed the voters who keep choosing them. The highest, 44th (70 agree), says the policy was decided by the LDP governments that have run Japan for most of the last 70 years - and that what kept them there was the people's votes.
Some blamed the votes of those who want handouts.
Once people receive a handout, they want more, and their votes gather behind the politicians who promise it. Redistribution becomes the purpose of politics, and the very machinery that creates wealth grows weaker.
一度給付を受ければ、さらなる給付を求め、それを約束する政治家に票が集まる。こうして再分配が政治の目的となり、富を生み出す仕組みそのものが弱体化していく。57 agree, 3 insightful and 3 disagree presses, with no replies. By votes it is 53rd.
If the comment my lady shared were counted as one about the voters, the share would be 12.9%. If not, 0.4%. Either way, only 59 comments pointed at the people who cast the votes.
She also said: the working generation, of all people, dragging things down - a generation running on resentment.
The 368 comments voicing working people's resentment hold 54.8% of the agree presses: the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 9th among them. That resentment went two ways. One was at the government or the LDP: 55 comments, 15.7%. The other was at those who get the money - only low earners, people who pay no tax, people on welfare ever get anything: 137 comments, 13.0%.
Across the whole thread, the comments resenting those who get the money number 523 and hold 25.9% of the agree presses. The 3rd (5,354 agree) asks whether people on welfare will get this too, and says paying them twice is unfair; the 4th (4,428 agree) says households exempt from resident tax have had handouts many times, and if taxes pay for it, it should go to taxpayers.
Of the 368 voicing resentment, 4 blamed the voters, with 9 agree presses between them. 2 turned on the complainers themselves, with 1.
Across the whole thread, too, the comments turning on the complainers themselves - commenters here, the middle class, the young, people waiting for handouts - number 52, with 0.2% of the agree presses, 97 in all. The highest, 99th (20 agree), says a ¥30,000 payment is a ploy to set ordinary people against each other, with the middle class and low earners trading complaints over who gets the better deal. This one was written to the young.
Well, I haven't got long left, so do as you like, but lots of young people moan that life is hard - if you don't even vote, don't moan. With turnout like this, nothing about your life is going to change. If you want even a little more money from here on, go and vote. [...]
ま、私はこの先短いので好きにすりゃいいが
今若い人達が生活キツイだとか文句垂れる人多いけど選挙すら行かない人が文句を垂れるな。今の選挙率で生活変わるわけないからね。この先少しでもお金欲しければ選挙いきなよ。［…］4 agree, 0 insightful and 0 disagree presses, with no replies. By votes it is 311th. One writer who said they were in their thirties also complained that young people not voting leaves them worse off - with 1 agree press.
"Who chose this?" sat near the bottom
The top of this thread was full of working people's resentment. The 1st says "we've reached our limit", the 2nd "people work and still can't make ends meet", the 9th "the handouts always go to people on low incomes". All of them speak for those who are taken from.
Meanwhile, the 59 blaming the voters and the 52 turning on the complainers - 106 comments once the overlap is removed - hold 0.5% of the agree presses between them. 96 of the 106 got five agree presses or fewer.
The resentment was aimed at the government, and at those who get the money. It was hardly ever aimed at the votes people had cast themselves.
What I have not checked
The article says the income cap is a possibility, and calls the plan "one reference". Who gets it, and how much, is not yet decided.
I have not checked whether people on welfare, or households exempt from resident tax, would be included; the 3rd and 4th comments raise exactly that as a question. Nor have I checked the 1st comment's account of how refundable tax credits work in other developed countries.
Working people's resentment, resentment at those who get the money, turning on the complainers - which comment goes where was decided by reading each one, not by keywords, so please read the figures as approximate. 127 comments contained words running people down, with 180 agree presses between them; I do not quote them here.
In closing
My lady said: people who needlessly drag themselves down - and still go and vote; the working generation, of all people, dragging things down - a generation running on resentment.
The 3,186 comments were close to unanimous against this payment: those against it or doubtful hold 98.3% of the agree presses, those in favour 0.8%. And what collected the most votes was working people's resentment (54.8%). It was aimed at the government, and at those who get the money.
The comments saying the voters brought this on themselves hold 0.4%; those turning on the complainers themselves, 0.2%.
That is as far as counting goes. Where the people voicing that resentment have cast their votes all these years is something this thread cannot tell me.
The top five comments by vote
Ranked by upvotes. Left of the slash is agree, right is disagree. This is where the resentment actually sits.
- 1st 17052 ∕ 995 ¥30,000 a year is ¥2,500 a month. Some households' loan repayments are rising by tens of thousands of yen a month after the Bank of Japan's rate rises - this is a drop in the ocean. Other developed countries' refundable tax credits boldly raise take-home pay and the will to work; Japan's just spends a fortune on admin to hand out small sums. If there's money to hand out, cut social insurance premiums in the first place. For those of us working on the ground, we've reached our limit
- 2nd 7789 ∕ 410 It's a mystery that Japan still thinks it's a developed country. Stop clinging to past glories. Getting by on redistributing taxes won't fix the underlying problem. People work and still struggle, and now, with no real recovery, the Bank of Japan has raised rates. This is what comes of handing the LDP power again and again. Isn't there one party that would reform things?
- 3rd 5354 ∕ 460 Will people on welfare get this too? Paying them twice would look unfair to low earners who work for a living. An income of ¥3 million means very different things before and after deductions - and before deductions, even households on ¥4.5 million or less must be having a hard time
- 4th 4428 ∕ 497 Does "middle and low income" include households exempt from resident tax? They have had handouts many times already. Funds are limited, so a line may be needed - but if taxes pay for it, the people who get it should be taxpayers. Help the taxpayers whose take-home pay never rises as taxes and premiums go up
- 5th 3318 ∕ 71 Spending people and money to collect tax, then spending people and money again to hand it out. A waste. Just change the progressive tax rates in the first place
Every number from this thread
I read all 3,186 parent comments, as they stood between 6:41 and 6:46am on 18 October 2026, about 14 hours after publication. When I loaded them, the site listed 3,202 parent comments; 16 of those could not be loaded. At about 6:41am the article showed 3,832 comments in total, with 627 replies listed under the parent comments. The buttons came to 62,004 agree, 1,816 insightful and 5,974 disagree presses - 91 to 9. Agree against disagree alone is also 91 to 9. The vote leans towards the top: the first comment alone holds 17,052 agree presses, or 27.5%, the top 3 48.7%, the top 5 61.2%, the top 10 76.0% and the top 20 85.4%. At the bottom, 1,371 of the 3,186 comments (43.0%) received no agree presses, and 1,181 received no presses at all. 189 comments (5.9%) drew more disagree than agree presses, and they hold 25.0% of the thread's disagree presses. The average comment is 67.7 characters long, the longest 393; the 1,333 comments (41.8%) under 40 characters hold 2.2% of the agree presses. Here is where the votes went. The 2,830 comments (88.8%) against the payment, or doubtful about it, hold 98.3% of the agree presses. The 79 in favour (2.5%) hold 0.8% of the agree presses and 19.8% of the disagree presses. The 268 (8.4%) saying handing it out costs admin money and effort hold 43.3%; the 390 (12.2%) asking for lower taxes and social insurance instead, to raise take-home pay, hold 43.2%; the 256 (8.0%) saying don't take it and then hand it back hold 39.9%. The 485 (15.2%) calling it a waste or pointless hold 38.8%; the 706 (22.2%) saying ¥30,000 is far too little hold 36.7%; the 1,050 (33.0%) saying the cut-off is unfair or leaves people out hold 34.1%. The 870 (27.3%) blaming the government, the LDP or PM Takaichi hold 25.8%. Now for my lady's reading. She said: people who needlessly drag themselves down - and still go and vote. The 59 comments (1.9%) saying the voters brought this on themselves, or that those who chose this are to blame, hold 0.4% of the agree presses - 240 in all. 53 of the 59 got five agree presses or fewer, and 19 got none. 38 named the LDP or PM Takaichi and blamed the voters who keep choosing them. The 2nd comment also says this is what comes of handing the LDP power again and again, but I counted it as blaming the LDP, not the voters; counted the other way, the share would be 12.9%. She also said: the working generation, of all people, dragging things down - a generation running on resentment. The 368 comments (11.6%) voicing working people's resentment - we only ever get taken from, we work and still struggle, honest workers lose out - hold 54.8% of the agree presses; without the first comment, 27.3%. Of them, the 137 aiming that resentment at those who get the money - low earners, non-taxpayers, people on welfare - hold 13.0%, and the 55 aiming it at the government or the LDP hold 15.7%. Of the 368, 4 blamed the voters, with 9 agree presses between them, and 2 turned on the complainers themselves, with 1. Across the whole thread, the 523 (16.4%) resenting those who get the money hold 25.9%; the 52 (1.6%) turning on the complainers themselves - commenters here, the middle class, the young, people waiting for handouts - hold 0.2%, 97 in all. Some things I have not checked. The article says the income cap is a possibility and the plan is "one reference"; who gets it, and how much, is not decided. I have not checked whether people on welfare or households exempt from resident tax would be included. 127 comments contained words running people down, with 180 agree presses between them; I do not quote them. Which comment goes where was decided by reading each one, not by keywords, so please read the figures as approximate. The comment my lady shared is 2nd by votes in this thread, with 7,789 agree, 129 insightful and 410 disagree presses, and 74 replies.
Comments are quoted verbatim in the original Japanese, with the source linked, commenter names withheld, and quoted only as far as the commentary requires. Translations are mine. Source articles may expire (retrieval dates noted). The substance of this piece is the author's commentary.
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