ID :
27372
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:06
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/27372
The shortlink copeid
Aso to seek 2 tril. yen in cash payments for households by yearend
TOKYO, Oct. 29 Kyodo - Prime Minister Taro Aso said Wednesday he will seek to distribute cash benefits totaling 2 trillion yen to all households by the end of this year as a pillar of an imminent additional stimulus package.
The distribution of such benefits by the yearend would be ''much more
meaningful'' than after the turn of the year, Aso told reporters, while the
government and ruling coalition were putting the final touches to a plan to
expand tax deductions on housing loans to up to an all-time high of 6 million
yen over a 10-year period as another pillar of the package.
Aso made the comment following an agreement between the government and
coalition to replace a plan for fixed-amount income tax cuts of 2 trillion yen
with the distribution of cash benefits or coupons for the new package the
government plans to adopt Thursday.
To finance the package, Aso intends to submit a bill on a second supplementary
budget for the current fiscal year to the Diet by late November, a senior
ruling coalition lawmaker said.
The current extraordinary Diet session is expected to be extended from Nov. 30
as it is currently scheduled to end, coalition lawmakers said.
The government has been negotiating with the Liberal Democratic Party and its
ruling coalition partner, the New Komeito party, to compile the additional
stimulus package, following a 1.8 trillion yen supplementary budget enacted
earlier this month for fiscal 2008 ending next March.
They agreed to set fiscal spending at 5 trillion yen for the package, coalition
sources said.
The planned cash distribution will provide some 38,000 yen on average to each
household.
Tax cuts on housing loans will be another feature of the stimulus package.
Homeowners currently receive a maximum of 1.6 million yen in deductions from
income tax over 10 years or 15 years, a program scheduled to expire at the end
of December.
Aso ordered the government and the ruling coalition last week to make the scale
of tax breaks for those paying for their mortgage the largest on record, so as
to help stimulate flagging economic activity.
The largest tax deduction on housing loans on record was about 5.87 million yen
available for two and a half years from 1999.
The government and coalition agreed to introduce cash benefit payments instead
of fixed-amount tax cuts because low-income households not subject to taxation
will not benefit from them.
While the government issued gift vouchers in 1999 to stimulate regional
economic activity, Aso said the coming cash benefit will be ''more effective as
the current economic situation is more serious.''
The additional stimulus package is also expected to include an extension of
securities-related tax breaks, more expressway toll cuts, support for
fund-raising by small and midsize companies and a cut in premiums for the
national unemployment insurance program.
In late August, Japan mapped out a stimulus package worth about 11.7 trillion
yen, the first of its kind since 2002, amid rising energy and raw material
costs.
But the government later concluded that another package is necessary given
worsening global economic conditions after the U.S.-triggered subprime mortgage
meltdown.
The distribution of such benefits by the yearend would be ''much more
meaningful'' than after the turn of the year, Aso told reporters, while the
government and ruling coalition were putting the final touches to a plan to
expand tax deductions on housing loans to up to an all-time high of 6 million
yen over a 10-year period as another pillar of the package.
Aso made the comment following an agreement between the government and
coalition to replace a plan for fixed-amount income tax cuts of 2 trillion yen
with the distribution of cash benefits or coupons for the new package the
government plans to adopt Thursday.
To finance the package, Aso intends to submit a bill on a second supplementary
budget for the current fiscal year to the Diet by late November, a senior
ruling coalition lawmaker said.
The current extraordinary Diet session is expected to be extended from Nov. 30
as it is currently scheduled to end, coalition lawmakers said.
The government has been negotiating with the Liberal Democratic Party and its
ruling coalition partner, the New Komeito party, to compile the additional
stimulus package, following a 1.8 trillion yen supplementary budget enacted
earlier this month for fiscal 2008 ending next March.
They agreed to set fiscal spending at 5 trillion yen for the package, coalition
sources said.
The planned cash distribution will provide some 38,000 yen on average to each
household.
Tax cuts on housing loans will be another feature of the stimulus package.
Homeowners currently receive a maximum of 1.6 million yen in deductions from
income tax over 10 years or 15 years, a program scheduled to expire at the end
of December.
Aso ordered the government and the ruling coalition last week to make the scale
of tax breaks for those paying for their mortgage the largest on record, so as
to help stimulate flagging economic activity.
The largest tax deduction on housing loans on record was about 5.87 million yen
available for two and a half years from 1999.
The government and coalition agreed to introduce cash benefit payments instead
of fixed-amount tax cuts because low-income households not subject to taxation
will not benefit from them.
While the government issued gift vouchers in 1999 to stimulate regional
economic activity, Aso said the coming cash benefit will be ''more effective as
the current economic situation is more serious.''
The additional stimulus package is also expected to include an extension of
securities-related tax breaks, more expressway toll cuts, support for
fund-raising by small and midsize companies and a cut in premiums for the
national unemployment insurance program.
In late August, Japan mapped out a stimulus package worth about 11.7 trillion
yen, the first of its kind since 2002, amid rising energy and raw material
costs.
But the government later concluded that another package is necessary given
worsening global economic conditions after the U.S.-triggered subprime mortgage
meltdown.
