 Government explained the fixed-rate tax cuts as a permanent break The government's explanation that fixed-rate tax cuts are an "exceptional, temporary measure" has been proven to be an excuse invented to force through the abolition of the tax cut. Japanese Communist Party Sasaki Kensho revealed this at the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 7. Concerning the government plan to abolish the fixed-rate tax cuts which will force people to shoulder an extra-3.3 trillion yen for the next two years, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro is trying to make the public believe that their abolition is necessary because they are an "exceptional, temporary measure". However, when the fixed-rate tax cuts were introduced in 1998, the government tax commission was saying, "Different from the usual special tax reduction, it is a permanent measure that has no fixed end." Pointing out these contradictory explanations, Sasaki pointed out that not even once had the "exceptional, temporary measure" been mentioned in the government's official statement. Finance Minister Tanigaki Sadakazu argued, "I had an idea that the fixed-rate tax cuts were to be abolished at some stage, but could not present any official view in which the government had regarded the measure as an "exceptional, temporary one". (end) |