Japan PM says not planning sales tax hike during 3-year term as LDP chair

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he is not considering a sales tax hike during his three-year term as president of the nation’s ruling party.

Instead, he aims to fund social security programmes without changing the current tax rate of 10 per cent. Ishiba, who was elected LDP chief last month and became premier on Oct 1, is looking to shore up support ahead of a general election on Oct 27.

“I’m not considering reducing the consumption tax. For the time being, I’m not considering raising it, either,” Ishiba said on Sunday (Oct 13) during a debate with other party heads on public broadcaster NHK. He added that for the time being, he is not considering the kind of one-off tax cut that his predecessor Fumio Kishida made this year to help households cope with persistent inflation. 

“People are suffering from higher prices, but the government is also affected by them,” he said. “We will have to look carefully at the revenue from consumption tax, corporate tax and income tax. I’m not thinking about such a tax cut right away.” 

Reuters had also reported that Ishiba said on Saturday that he would not intervene in monetary policy affairs, as the central bank is mandated to achieve price stability.

“It’s important to avoid vocally intervening” in monetary policy affairs, or appear as if he was doing so, Ishiba said. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS