ID :
80669
Fri, 09/18/2009 - 23:46
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/80669
The shortlink copeid
Japan`s FY 2010 budget plan to be set in early Oct.
TOKYO, Sept. 18 Kyodo -
Japan's new government will try to set the direction for the fiscal 2010 budget
in ''very early October'' but realizes that the goal of introducing green taxes
is likely to be difficult in the immediate future, Finance Minister Hirohisa
Fujii said Friday.
''In very early October, we must have'' the basic policy for the upcoming
budget, Fujii said in an interview at the ministry with Kyodo News and several
other media outlets.
Despite the limited time, the Democratic Party of Japan-led government will
draft the budget from scratch and will abandon the basic framework created by
the previous government, Fujii said.
Fujii said that he wants to have the draft ''by the end of this year for sure.''
Before this week's launch of the new administration, the Finance Ministry had
finished accepting budgetary requests for the fiscal year from government
ministries and agencies.
The basic framework, endorsed by the Liberal Democratic Party-led government,
has an all-time-high 52.67 trillion yen ceiling on general expenditures.
As to a new tax system aimed at combating global warming, the DPJ's campaign
platform said that the party would ''study the introduction,'' without
specifying a time frame.
Fujii suggested that the introduction will come after the planned repeal of
provisional portions of gasoline and other fuel taxes in fiscal 2010.
The 77-year-old minister said the introduction of green taxes must be discussed
in connection with what to do with the party's plan to set up an effective
cap-and-trade emissions trading market in Japan.
''Carbon credit trading would not be that easy,'' he said. ''I think it will
probably take some more time.''
To achieve Tokyo's new ambitious target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions,
Fujii said the public's burden would be bigger.
But he said the government needs to take into account the possibility of double
taxation when considering introducing both global warming taxes and emissions
trading.
''If we decide to do carbon credit trading, depending on the way we do it, it
could lead to a double burden,'' he said. ''I don't yet know how to do it,
including whether we will impose a small burden through carbon credit
trading.''
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has recently pledged that Japan will slash
greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, which is far
more ambitious than the 8 percent reduction goal set by former Prime Minister
Taro Aso.
Amid a sharp fall in tax revenues, Japan is finding it difficult to raise funds
to tackle global warming and other new challenges.
On whether to issue additional debt-covering bonds later this year, the
minister said, ''As economies are dynamic in nature...I cannot say with
certainty.''
Fujii also said the government will consider lowering an exceptional corporate
tax rate, starting from fiscal 2011, for small and medium-sized companies to 11
percent from 18 percent on income of up to 8 million yen.
==Kyodo
Japan's new government will try to set the direction for the fiscal 2010 budget
in ''very early October'' but realizes that the goal of introducing green taxes
is likely to be difficult in the immediate future, Finance Minister Hirohisa
Fujii said Friday.
''In very early October, we must have'' the basic policy for the upcoming
budget, Fujii said in an interview at the ministry with Kyodo News and several
other media outlets.
Despite the limited time, the Democratic Party of Japan-led government will
draft the budget from scratch and will abandon the basic framework created by
the previous government, Fujii said.
Fujii said that he wants to have the draft ''by the end of this year for sure.''
Before this week's launch of the new administration, the Finance Ministry had
finished accepting budgetary requests for the fiscal year from government
ministries and agencies.
The basic framework, endorsed by the Liberal Democratic Party-led government,
has an all-time-high 52.67 trillion yen ceiling on general expenditures.
As to a new tax system aimed at combating global warming, the DPJ's campaign
platform said that the party would ''study the introduction,'' without
specifying a time frame.
Fujii suggested that the introduction will come after the planned repeal of
provisional portions of gasoline and other fuel taxes in fiscal 2010.
The 77-year-old minister said the introduction of green taxes must be discussed
in connection with what to do with the party's plan to set up an effective
cap-and-trade emissions trading market in Japan.
''Carbon credit trading would not be that easy,'' he said. ''I think it will
probably take some more time.''
To achieve Tokyo's new ambitious target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions,
Fujii said the public's burden would be bigger.
But he said the government needs to take into account the possibility of double
taxation when considering introducing both global warming taxes and emissions
trading.
''If we decide to do carbon credit trading, depending on the way we do it, it
could lead to a double burden,'' he said. ''I don't yet know how to do it,
including whether we will impose a small burden through carbon credit
trading.''
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has recently pledged that Japan will slash
greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, which is far
more ambitious than the 8 percent reduction goal set by former Prime Minister
Taro Aso.
Amid a sharp fall in tax revenues, Japan is finding it difficult to raise funds
to tackle global warming and other new challenges.
On whether to issue additional debt-covering bonds later this year, the
minister said, ''As economies are dynamic in nature...I cannot say with
certainty.''
Fujii also said the government will consider lowering an exceptional corporate
tax rate, starting from fiscal 2011, for small and medium-sized companies to 11
percent from 18 percent on income of up to 8 million yen.
==Kyodo
