ABSTRACT
We have already seen that the coalition of the hanbatsu and political parties in the ninth and tenth Diets was established on the condition that there would be no increase in land tax. Despite the fact that the postwar reconstruction plan supported by the parties would obviously soon require such an increase, the parties continued to support post-war reconstruction while opposing a rise in land tax. This was why, when the second Matsukata Cabinet resolved to present a land tax increase bill to the eleventh Diet, the prospect of forming coalition cabinets between the hanbatsu and parties was dimmed, and a situation developed similar to that of the early Diets, in which the hanbatsu were in direct confrontation with an alliance of parties.
