Party Subsidies 2026: ¥31.5bn, ¥250 per Person, 11 Parties

This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version is authoritative; figures follow Japanese tax law.

Political party subsidies (政党交付金) are money paid to political parties every year out of the national budget. For 2026 (Reiwa 8), the total is about ¥31.5 billion. It is set at ¥250 per person in the national census population. In effect, ¥250 for everyone, from babies to the elderly, is shared among 11 parties. Half was paid in April and July, and the rest comes in October and December. Anyone can check how the money is spent each year on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC, 総務省).

The short answer: ¥31.5 billion for 2026, ¥250 per person, shared among 11 parties

The 2026 budget is ¥31.54 billion[MIC FY2026 initial budget overview]. The amount is based on "population × ¥250" under the Political Party Subsidies Act (政党助成法)[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 7].

Item	2026 (Reiwa 8)
Total (budget)	¥31.54 billion[MIC budget overview]
Formula	126,146,099 people (2020 census) × ¥250 = ¥31,536,525,000[MIC Political Party Subsidy System]
Grant decision (8 April)	11 parties, ¥31,536,519,000 in total[MIC 2026 grant decision]
Already paid	¥7,884,129,750 each on 20 April and 17 July[MIC April payment][MIC July payment]
Remaining	Paid in October and December[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 11]

Here is ¥250 per person converted into household and voter units.

The ¥31,536,525,000 total in everyday units (this site's estimate)

Per household: ÷ 55.83 million households = about ¥565
Per voter: ÷ 103.21 million voters = about ¥306
Against the income tax budget of ¥25.325 trillion: about 0.12%
Against the general account tax revenue budget of ¥83.735 trillion: about 0.04%

This site's estimate. Household numbers are from the national census[Statistics Bureau of Japan], and voter numbers are preliminary figures from the House of Representatives election[MIC 51st general election]. Tax revenue is from the FY2026 budget[Ministry of Finance, tax and stamp revenue budget]. No specific tax is earmarked for the subsidies, so the ratios are only a guide.

How it is split among 11 parties: the LDP gets about half, and the Centrist Reform Alliance is newly eligible

For 2026, the Liberal Democratic Party (自由民主党) receives 48.72%. MIC decided the grants to 11 parties on 8 April[MIC 2026 grant decision].

As of 1 January, 10 parties had registered. After the House of Representatives election on 8 February, 11 parties had registered as of 9 February, and the allocation was recalculated. The newcomer is the Centrist Reform Alliance (中道改革連合)[MIC registrations as of 9 February].

Party	2026 amount decided	Share	Out of ¥250
Liberal Democratic Party (自由民主党)	¥15.36 billion	48.72%	¥121.8
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (立憲民主党)	¥3.12 billion	9.89%	¥24.7
Japan Innovation Party (日本維新の会)	¥2.82 billion	8.93%	¥22.3
Democratic Party for the People (国民民主党)	¥2.72 billion	8.61%	¥21.5
Centrist Reform Alliance (中道改革連合)	¥2.34 billion	7.42%	¥18.5
Sanseito (参政党)	¥1.99 billion	6.31%	¥15.8
Komeito (公明党)	¥1.40 billion	4.43%	¥11.1
Reiwa Shinsengumi (れいわ新選組)	¥700 million	2.22%	¥5.6
Team Mirai (チームみらい)	¥570 million	1.80%	¥4.5
Conservative Party of Japan (日本保守党)	¥300 million	0.94%	¥2.3
Social Democratic Party (社会民主党)	¥230 million	0.74%	¥1.8

Amounts and shares are from MIC's "2026 political party subsidy grant decision"[MIC]. "Out of ¥250" is this site's estimate, multiplying each share by ¥250.

Changes from the previous year include −61.10% for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and +117.46% for Sanseito[MIC 2026 grant decision]. The election shifted seat numbers and votes, and the allocation reflects that.

This site's estimate, converting each party's share of the grant decision to ¥250 (source: MIC)

Who qualifies: "5 Diet members", or "1 Diet member plus 2% of the vote"

A political group with 5 or more Diet members qualifies. A group with at least 1 Diet member and 2% or more of the vote in the most recent national election also qualifies[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 2]. It cannot receive money until it becomes a legal entity[MIC Eligible parties].

Half of the total is shared by number of Diet members, and the other half by number of votes[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 7]. The vote-based half is calculated in four equal quarters: House of Representatives single-seat and proportional votes, and House of Councillors proportional and constituency votes[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 8].

Even if a party qualifies, it receives nothing unless it submits a claim[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 11]. The Japanese Communist Party (日本共産党) is not among the parties registered as of 1 January 2026[MIC registrations as of 1 January].

Payment is split into four instalments, each transferred on the 20th of the month[MIC Calculation and payment procedure].

April: one quarter of the annual amount
July: one third of the remainder (one quarter of the annual amount)
October: half of the remainder (one quarter of the annual amount)
December: all of the remainder (one quarter of the annual amount)

In an election year, the amount is recalculated month by month from the election reference date (9 February in 2026)[MIC Calculation and payment procedure].

How it is spent (2025, published 25 September 2026): spending of ¥35.77 billion exceeded the grants

In 2025 (Reiwa 7), published on 25 September 2026, spending was ¥35,772 million. That is more than the ¥31,537 million granted[MIC Overview of 2025 spending reports]. The difference was paid by drawing down funds saved in earlier years. Spending was down 3.0% from ¥36,874 million in 2024.

2025 (Reiwa 7) item	2025 amount	Share
Staff costs	¥11.76 billion	32.9%
Publicity costs	¥10.29 billion	28.8%
Office costs	¥4.31 billion	12.1%
Election costs	¥2.82 billion	7.9%
Organisational activity costs	¥2.46 billion	6.9%
Research costs	¥1.63 billion	4.5%
Other (party papers, equipment, etc.)	¥2.51 billion	7.0%
Total	¥35.77 billion	100%

Source: MIC explanatory material on the 2025 political party subsidy spending reports[MIC]. Headquarters and branches combined. "Other" is this site's estimate, the total minus the main items.

Election costs fell from ¥8.10 billion the year before to ¥2.82 billion, a decrease of 65.2%. Publicity costs, on the other hand, rose from ¥4.46 billion to ¥10.29 billion, an increase of 130.6%, making them the second-largest item after staff costs[MIC explanatory material]. A House of Councillors election was held in July 2025. MIC's long-term data also shows spending tends to swell in election years.

The state cannot attach conditions to how the money is used[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 4]. Instead, the spending is disclosed in reports and left to "public scrutiny and criticism"[MIC Political Party Subsidy System].

The full reports can be read party by party from MIC's list[MIC publication list].

Unspent money goes into funds: ¥20.4 billion at the end of 2025

Parties may set aside part of the subsidies in funds for specific purposes[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 14]. At the end of 2025, the total across all parties was ¥20,364 million[MIC 2025 press release]. It has fallen two years in a row.

Fund balance (2025 report)	Amount
End of 2024 (all parties)	¥24,624 million
End of 2025 (all parties)	¥20,364 million (down 17.3%)
Of which Liberal Democratic Party (end of 2025)	¥16,335 million
Returned to the national treasury for 2025	¥29 million

Source: MIC press release on the 2025 political party subsidy spending reports[MIC]. Headquarters party funds and branch funds combined.

The state can order the return of money left unspent in a given year[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 33]. According to MIC, fund balances are added to the amount to be returned only in cases such as the dissolution of a party or branch[MIC Explanation of the subsidy system]. Recent main cases are below.

March 2026: return procedure for a dissolved branch's fund balance of ¥10,775,900[MIC]
September 2025: return procedure for the fund balances of 4 dissolved branches, ¥12,952,546[MIC]
Free Education for All (教育無償化を実現する会), which stopped qualifying in October 2024: a specified subsidy of ¥39,460,290[MIC]
Minna de Tsukuru Party (みんなでつくる党), which stopped qualifying: after 2024, again filed its total 2025 spending and year-end fund balance as "unknown"[MIC]

The first two cases concern branches of the Japan Innovation Party. Past returns can be seen in MIC's list[MIC list of returns].

Stopping payments for indicted members is not yet law

The way reports are published changed in January 2026. A system to stop payments, however, is not yet law.

What changed in January 2026

Spending reports are published online. Summaries in the Official Gazette were abolished[MIC Summary of the amendments]
Anyone can request a copy for 5 years from the publication date[MIC Summary of the amendments]
Policy activity funds (lump-sum payments with no itemised use) were banned. This was an amendment to the Political Funds Control Act (政治資金規正法)[MIC Outline of the bill]

What is not yet decided

A system to stop the member-based share for a Diet member indicted in a political funds case or similar
A supplementary provision of the law called for legislation within about one year from 8 January 2025[MIC Summary of the amendments]
The amendment history of the Political Party Subsidies Act does not yet include this system (whether a bill has been submitted was not confirmed)

The ban on policy activity funds did not change the text of the Political Party Subsidies Act. Whether subsidies had been used as policy activity funds could not be confirmed from primary sources.

You can check where your ¥250 went on MIC's website

Spending reports are published by 30 September of the year they are submitted[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 31].

Choose the year you want in MIC's publication list
Look at each party's grants, spending and fund balance in the press release
Look at the payee and purpose of each payment of ¥50,000 or more in the report itself[Political Party Subsidies Act, Article 17]
If needed, request a copy within 5 years of the publication date

How each party wants to change taxes and social insurance is laid out in our comparison of party tax positions. Next year's tax debate can be followed from the FY2027 tax reform requests. For the overall picture, see tax basics.

As a first step, look at the 2025 reports party by party to see what lies behind the more than doubling of publicity costs.

Summary

The Reiwa 8 (2026) political party subsidy totals about ¥31.5 billion. It is calculated at ¥250 per person, distributed to 11 parties.
The Liberal Democratic Party receives 48.72%, and the Centrist Reform Alliance has newly become eligible.
Eligible organizations are political groups with 5 or more Diet members, or with at least 1 member and a vote share of 2% or more.
Reiwa 7 (2025) spending was ¥35.772 billion, exceeding the subsidy amount, with publicity expenses up 130.6%. The fund balance stood at ¥20.364 billion.
Suspending subsidies for indicted lawmakers has not yet been made law. How the funds are used can be checked in the list published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.