Japan Press Weekly

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2012 March 28 - April 3 [POLITICS]

National papers all call for higher consumption tax

Major newspapers called for the swift enactment of a bill to raise the consumption tax in their editorials on March 31, the day after the Noda Cabinet submitted the bill to the Diet.

The following are titles of their editorials: “Prime minister should set conditions for Diet deliberation on the bill, work with opposition parties” (Yomiuri); “Consumption tax hike is necessary” (Asahi); “Make all out efforts to create Democratic-Liberal Democratic consensus” (Mainichi); “Prime minister should move straight towards the tax hike” (Nikkei); and “Create ruling-opposition party cooperation to amend and enact the bill” (Sankei).

These national dailies have repeatedly urged the Democratic Party-led government to increase the consumption tax rate. However, in opinion polls they themselves have taken, the number of respondents who oppose the tax hike plan has far exceeded the number of those who support it, and the “opposition” percentage has increased in every poll.