Breaks for families in 2024

No matter if you’re single or a working family with children, you’re likely feeling the squeeze of inflation that has caused a rise in the prices of consumer goods, electricity, and fuel in Japan. You're probably bracing yourself along with your Japanese neighbors and friends for further bites out of the family budget. There appears to be some relief for families on the way in 2024.

A tax break is on its way in 2024 photo Oleksandr P

A big break for families with children in schools

A significant break is the announcement of free tuition for all high school-aged children of families in Tokyo. Families of children who attend public and private schools in Tokyo proper will receive up to 475,000 yen. The subsidy extends to students resident in Tokyo and attending private schools outside of the capital. Osaka, too, earlier in 2023 announced a plan to abolish income limits on high school tuition fees.

Here’s hoping that for those foreign residents who have children in major regions and teachers like me in public and private schools, the tuition subsidies take a load off our families. I wonder if the free tuition policy will give prospective families more options.

Temporary relief

As part of Prime Minister Kishida’s government stimulus package, tax cuts are scheduled for 2024. This is only a one-time 40,000 yen break for each person. The plan reduces national tax by 30,000 yen, and municipal tax by 10,000 yen. For a household of four, that works out to 160,000 yen. In addition, the government will pay out 70,000 yen to low-income households. This isn’t the first time that the government has provided funds to families with income under the income tax threshold. Earlier this year, the national government announced a third round of payouts of 50,000 yen per child.

Support for young carers

Briefly, during high school, my family members suffered a series of mishaps, and my sibling and I ended up minding our household for a few weeks. Keeping up with medical appointments, doing chores, and running errands distracted us from our studies.

Fortunately, the temporary situation was resolved and we could focus again on our studies. Here in Japan, a growing number of school-aged children are caring for elders and younger siblings. The government is working on legislation to support children and university students who are young carers.

Do you think the tax breaks and legislation will help your family, friends, and neighbors in 2024?