Japan Aims to Cover 70 Pct of Defense Boost with Corp. Tax

Tokyo, Dec. 12 (Jiji Press)--Japan's government and ruling coalition are considering covering some 70 pct of a planned increase in defense spending with corporate tax revenue, informed sources said Monday.

The government and the Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition are also looking at raising the tobacco tax and using revenue from the special income tax collected from individuals to finance the reconstruction of areas hit hard by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

An idea under consideration calls for allocating 700 billion to 800 billion yen from corporate tax revenue, 200 billion to 300 billion yen from tobacco tax revenue and 200 billion yen from reconstruction special income tax revenue, or 40 pct of the total revenue from the special tax.

The government and the ruling bloc hope to raise taxes in stages from fiscal 2024 to secure over 1 trillion yen in additional annual tax revenue by fiscal 2027 to help cover the planned defense spending increase.

The funding plan will be included in the fiscal 2023 tax system reform package that the ruling coalition plans to adopt on Friday, the sources said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]