Saturday, July 7, 2007 4:58 am | 
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Abe hints consumption tax raise may be ahead, Finance Minister downplays comments next day
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated on a Nippon TV show Thursday night that the government might increase the consumption tax after the coming upper house election, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, etc reported.
“The tax system must be fundamentally reformed this coming autumn. We have never said we won’t raise the consumption tax”, Asahi Shimbun quoted him as saying. Abe suggested that such a tax rise might become necessary to fill the void created by compensations paid for the missing pension records.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki had earlier denied that the LDP would bring up a consumption tax raise during the upper house campaigning, but instead bring it up during the next lower house election, to be held in September 2009.
Next day, Finance Minister Koji Omi tried to downplay the significance of Abe’s remarks, Kyodo News reported. “We have always said that we will fully discuss reforms of revenues and spending in the fall. The prime minister’s comments were in line with his remarks made in the Diet debate,” Omi was quoted by the report.
Japanese consumption tax is at 5 percent and is applied to virtually all goods and services.
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[…] Minister Shinzo Abe, who a few days ago was indicating that he was leaning towards a consumption tax increase this autumn, now is promising he will do his […]