TOKYO (Parliament Politics Magazine) – As a result of a shift in young people’s attitudes that led to a decline in tax revenues, the government of Japan has established a national competition seeking suggestions for ways to encourage people to drink more alcohol.
The National Tax Agency (NTA) is running the Sake Viva! Campaign. This campaign invites people between ages 20 to 39 to submit proposals to invigorate the appeal of alcoholic drinks, which has fallen due to changes in people’s lifestyles during the Covid pandemic especially among the young people of the country.
The competition, which is open until September 9th, requests “new products and designs” along with strategies to encourage drinking at home. Participants are also urged to explore sales strategies utilising the metaverse, said the local website JiJi.com.
The NTA reports, the average annual consumption of alcohol in Japan reduced from an average of 100 litres per person in 1995 to 75 litres in 2020. The decline in alcohol sales has hurt Japan’s finances, which are already shaky by more than ¥48 trillion (£290 billion).
In 2020, taxes related to alcohol made for 1.7% of the country’s total tax revenue, low from 3% in 2011 and 5% in 1980. Earlier this month, The NTA reported that the total revenue that came from alcohol taxes in the 2020 financial year fell by over ¥110 billion to ¥1.1 trillion compared to the year before. The Japan Times reported it as the biggest decrease in alcohol tax revenue in 31 years.
When the Covid 19 hit, the working from home made strides to some extent, and many individuals might have questioned if they needed to continue the habit of drinking with colleagues to improve communication, an agency official at the time told the English-language daily. If the ‘new normal’ established itself, it would be another obstacle for tax revenue.
The consumption of beer came significantly low, with sales volume falling 20% to less than 1.8 billion litres.
The Kirin brewery, the producer of Kirin lager and Ichiban Shibori, stated Japan’s per capita consumption came to 55 bottles of beer in 2020, which was a 9.1% decrease from last year.
Japan’s health ministry is hopeful that the campaign would also encourage people to only consume the “appropriate amount of alcohol.”
The finalists of the competition will be invited to the gala awards event on 10th November in Tokyo; the tax office declared that it would support the commercialisation of the winner’s ideas.
