Japan's taxes and subsidies, in data
Making "taxes, understood in numbers" visual.
Using our own tally of over 1 million subsidy records and the tax-revenue data published by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we chart the reality of Japan's taxes and subsidies. Everything is based on primary sources, with citations. No exaggeration — the numbers as they are.
Consumption tax is now Japan's largest tax
National tax revenue hit ¥84.2 trillion in FY2025, a record for the 6th straight year. Income and corporate taxes were once the twin pillars, but as the consumption-tax rate rose, consumption tax became the single largest source. You can see where each yen of tax comes from.
Who actually receives subsidies, and how much
Add up cumulative grants by recipient and the top ranks are not companies but "pass-throughs of public money" — health insurance, local governments, and funds. Even the "¥7 trillion to Hakuhodo" that trended on social media is mostly the discount funding for electricity and gas bills, routed through the agency. Seeing the "real nature" of the figures changes the impression.
By count, the main players are small businesses
Count by number of records instead of amount and the picture flips. The IT Introduction subsidy alone tops 210,000 records. Subsidies for SMEs and small businesses make up the bulk, backing capital investment, sales expansion, and digitalization.
→ Subsidy Award Database to search by company name; for the full analysis see our analysis of 1M+ subsidy records.