Japan is currently undergoing a major social crisis because of its demographics. Not enough people are having sex, and very few are having children, and 25% of the population are senior citizens. By 2060 the country’s population is expected to have decreased by as much as 30% because of its declining birth-rate, which spells disaster for the economy. Part of the problem, according to economist Moringa Takuro, is that a lot of Japanese men are only interested in “2D female characters from anime and manga. I want to tell them that human women are also great fun!” He has come up with an incentive to get more Japanese having sex and having kids. Tax handsome men.
Takuro thinks that if some men are taxed because they’re good-looking, then there will be a level playing-field in the game of love, allowing less handsome men a shot at getting the girl. “If we impose a handsome tax on men who look good to correct the injustice only slightly, then it will become easier for ugly men to find love, and the number of people getting married will increase.” Okay, as tax legislation goes, it’s not the craziest thing to tax. But how will it be administered? Will the government dispatch teams of aesthetes to rate the handsomeness of the country’s male population? Or will they just use the enchanted mirror from Snow White? And will men desperate to avoid tax disfigure themselves?