Tokyo, 28 October, /AJMEDIA/
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that his government will not hike taxes to boost Japan’s defense budget in the next fiscal year from April, given the hardships people currently face as the result of higher prices without adequate wage growth.
During a parliamentary session, Kishida — who has expressed eagerness to reduce income taxes in fiscal 2024 to prop up the economy — said that Japan is “not in a situation” where tax hikes can be carried out.
Kishida has pledged to return some of the recent increase in government revenues to the public. Japan’s tax income reached 71.14 trillion yen for fiscal 2022 through March 2023, hitting a record high for the third consecutive year.
The plan will be part of a new economic stimulus package, for which Kishida has promised to submit a supplementary budget for fiscal 2023 during the extraordinary Diet session scheduled to conclude on Dec 13.
Kishida had earlier said tax hikes will be implemented in fiscal 2024 or later as his government aims to almost double Japan’s annual defense spending to around 2 percent of gross domestic product over the next five years, with an increase in tobacco taxes, among others, eyed to cover the outlays.