Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 23 - 29 [JCP]

JCP calls for cross-party effort to halt consumption tax hike

In an effort to seek cross-party collaboration to stop a planned consumption tax hike, the Japanese Communist Party on October 25 released an outline of a bill to cancel the tax increase scheduled for next April.

At a press conference on the same day, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo announced that the JCP will ask other parties to jointly submit the bill to the Diet based on a common objective to put a halt to the government’s plan to raise the consumption tax rate from 5% to 8% in April 2014.

To submit a bill related to national budget requires the support of more than 50 members in the Lower House and more than 20 members in the Upper House. Having 8 seats in the Lower House and 11 in the Upper House, the JCP cannot submit such a bill on its own.

Reaffirming the JCP’s position to oppose an increase in the consumption tax rate anytime in the future, Shii stated that the bill can be supported by other parties even if they have different ideas concerning the future framework of the consumption tax and social security services.