ID :
205867
Wed, 09/07/2011 - 18:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/205867
The shortlink copeid
Income tax hikes a key option to raise reconstruction funds
TOKYO, Sept. 7 Kyodo - The government of new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is closer to a decision to provisionally raise individual and corporate income taxes in a bid to finance reconstruction work following the March earthquake and tsunami, officials said Wednesday.
Japan is expected to sanction the temporary tax increases and designate the use of proceeds from the hikes only for servicing envisaged reconstruction bonds, a move that Noda hopes would help prevent an increase in outstanding government debt, which must be shouldered by future generations.
A government panel on tax reforms met for the first time under Noda's Cabinet, launched last Friday, and is expected to present as early as next week a set of policy options centering on the income tax hike plan, according to the officials.
''We will not put off the burden (of debt repayment) to future generations,'' Noda told a meeting of the Tax Commission, chaired by Finance Minister Jun Azumi. ''I want you to present me with a number of choices.''
The government is aiming to raise around 13 trillion yen ($168 billion), mainly earmarked for reconstruction work in a five-year period starting in fiscal 2011, through the tax hikes which could possibly last for five to 10 years.
But there is opposition from some within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan who fear a tax increase would only stifle the already fragile Japanese economic recovery by way of damaging consumer and business sentiment.
Noda and Azumi have acknowledged that the government must first conduct thorough spending cuts and sell some state-owned assets for necessary funds. But in the event that it runs short of money despite such efforts, they have also said the government will have to ask taxpayers to share the burden.
Japan is expected to sanction the temporary tax increases and designate the use of proceeds from the hikes only for servicing envisaged reconstruction bonds, a move that Noda hopes would help prevent an increase in outstanding government debt, which must be shouldered by future generations.
A government panel on tax reforms met for the first time under Noda's Cabinet, launched last Friday, and is expected to present as early as next week a set of policy options centering on the income tax hike plan, according to the officials.
''We will not put off the burden (of debt repayment) to future generations,'' Noda told a meeting of the Tax Commission, chaired by Finance Minister Jun Azumi. ''I want you to present me with a number of choices.''
The government is aiming to raise around 13 trillion yen ($168 billion), mainly earmarked for reconstruction work in a five-year period starting in fiscal 2011, through the tax hikes which could possibly last for five to 10 years.
But there is opposition from some within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan who fear a tax increase would only stifle the already fragile Japanese economic recovery by way of damaging consumer and business sentiment.
Noda and Azumi have acknowledged that the government must first conduct thorough spending cuts and sell some state-owned assets for necessary funds. But in the event that it runs short of money despite such efforts, they have also said the government will have to ask taxpayers to share the burden.
