Cash Benefits or Tax Cuts?

 Currently, as many people are struggling to make ends meet due to a variety of reasons, including high taxes and high prices caused by misgovernment, policies such as subsidies or tax cuts are attracting a great deal of attention.

 I believe that when the same amount of money is allocated to either benefits or tax cuts, given the current political climate where many politicians disregard the hardships of ordinary citizens, tax cuts are the only option.

 This is because a tax cut means that a portion of your money, which would otherwise be forcibly collected, remains in your possession. In other words, more of your own money stays with you, and you—not someone else—get to decide how to spend it.

 On the other hand, when it comes to benefits (subsidies, grants), how they are used is largely decided by politicians. When, to whom, how much, and how these payments are distributed is determined by politicians. This is despite the fact that the money used for these payments comes from taxes and other “money paid by the people” – money we ourselves pay. Furthermore, even if the method involves some form of intermediary (and it is often assumed that some intermediary is involved), we have no choice but to accept it, and the benefits we actually receive will be reduced compared to a tax cut. Let’s examine this using actual figures.

 Assume that the amount allocated for cash payments or tax cuts per 100 people is 1 million yen.

(*Administrative costs occur in both cases and are therefore not considered here.)

・In the case of tax cuts

When implementing a ¥1 million tax cut for 100 people, each person is allocated ¥10,000.

¥1,000,000 → ¥1,000,000 / 100 (¥10,000 per person)

・In the case of benefit payments

When distributing ¥1 million in benefits to 100 people through middlemen, the amount allocated per person decreases.

¥1,000,000 → (Middleman fee deducted)  

                              −¥100,000           →     ¥900,000/100  (¥9,000 per person)** 

             　　　　 −¥500,000          →     ¥500,000/100  (¥5,000 per person)**

**If the amount of benefits that goes to each person is increased to 10,000 yen even if middlemen are involved, it would mean increasing the budget of 1 million yen, and in even worse cases, the amount of money that goes to middlemen could be increased as well, allowing those who hold the initiative in the payment of benefits to do whatever they want, and the burden on us citizens for the benefits that actually reach us will only increase. If middlemen are in collusion with ruling party politicians through donations, etc., then from a moral perspective, this is nothing but corruption.

 Considering the above, while subsidies represent a highly lucrative system for politicians—allowing them to cherry-pick in various situations, including kickbacks—tax cuts, conversely, are a system that does not grant politicians such lucrative opportunities.

 To put it simply, tax cuts do not take your money, but grants require you to pay money that you may or may not get returned, and even if it does get returned, there is a high chance that someone somewhere will skim off some of the money along the way and you will not get the full amount back.

 In the current situation where distrust of politics is widespread, it is a completely natural way of thinking to think that rather than living a difficult life and being forced to live an even more uncomfortable life by being swayed in various ways by subsidies that allow politicians to be picky, people would rather keep more of their own money in their hands and decide how to spend it themselves through tax cuts.

 Even if the numbers shown are the same, they may contain various intentions and deceptions, so we should never be trapped by the numbers alone, but rather look at the background to them and create a decent society.

☆☆☆

 Wish you beautiful days!

from Japan

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