Economics
Japan Must Delay Sales-Tax Rise to Recover, Abe Aide Says
- Abe seeks postponement of increase until October 2019: NHK
- Shimomura says increase would threaten the goals of Abenomics
Japan May Delay Sales Tax Hike Until 2019
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Japan needs to delay increasing its sales tax until late 2019 to sustain its economic recovery, an aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday. There is a possibility that such a move could trigger a general election.
The government will probably hold off raising the tax because it needs to give priority to economic growth, Abe aide Hakubun Shimomura said on Fuji television. Japan’s lower house of parliament would need to be dissolved for a general election if the planned increase is delayed again, Finance Minister Taro Aso was cited by Kyodo News as saying on Sunday at a meeting of the ruling party’s members.