Japan Press Weekly

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2011 February 9 - 15 [POLITICS]

LDP calls on DPJ to work together for consumption tax increase

Liberal Democratic Party leader Tanigaki Sadakazu in his first one-on-one battle with Prime Minister Kan Naoto said that the easiest way to increase the consumption tax rate is for their parties to cooperate after holding a general election for the House of Representatives.

In the one-on-one debate, PM Kan said that unified reform of social welfare programs and the taxation system is “an unavoidable task for any cabinet and any prime minister.” He called on Tanigaki to take part in discussions on this issue.

Tanigaki stated, “Our policy of raising the consumption tax rate to 10% is the same (as what the PM suggests).”

Tanigaki called on Kan to promise to increase the consumption tax rate in a new Democratic Party of Japan Manifest and then to hold a Lower House general election to ask the public to support a consumption tax hike. “After holding a general election, we can work on a consumption tax increase together. This is the easiest way to achieve our aims together,” he said.

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Later on the same day, asked by reporters to comment on the one-on-one debate between the leaders of the LDP and the DPJ, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo said, “Both the PM and Tanigaki recognized that they endorse the same policies of increasing the consumption tax rate, reducing corporate taxes, and cutting social welfare services. The need now is to overcome these adverse policies.”