Ito Backs Japan Sales-Tax Plan as Hamada Calls for Gradual Rise
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Tokyo University Professor Takatoshi Ito said Japan’s sales tax should be increased as planned as a panel of economists and financial experts considering the levy split on the issue.
“Economic indicators show the economy isn’t in a bad state and raising the sales tax wouldn’t slow the economy or the bid to end deflation,” Ito, a former finance ministry official, told reporters yesterday after the meeting in Tokyo. Not proceeding in line with the plan could lead to falling stocks, a stronger yen and a spike in bond yields, Ito wrote in a statement submitted to the panel.