Government size has attracted much scholarly attention. Political economists have considered large public expenditures a product of leftist rule and an ex- pression of a stronger representation of labor interest. Although the size of the government has become the most important policy difference between the left and the right in postwar politics, the formation of the government’s funding base has not been explored. Junko Kato finds that the differentiation of tax rev- enue structure is path-dependent upon the shift to regressive taxation. Since the 1980s, the institutionalization of effective revenue raising by regressive taxes during periods of highgrowthhas ensured resistance to welfare state back- lashduring budget deficits and consolidated.
