PM Takaichi Expects Tax Cut Talks to Conclude by Early August

Tokyo, July 15 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that she wants the suprapartisan National Council on Social Security to reach a conclusion on the planned food tax cut by early August, so a related bill can be submitted to a possible extraordinary session of the Diet in the autumn.

During the second parliamentary debate among party leaders in the current session, Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki asked Takaichi about her plan to lower the consumption tax rate on food to 1 pct.

In response, the prime minister said, "I hoped to see the talks end before summer, but it's still possible (to submit a related bill during the autumn session) if the talks conclude around early August."

Takaichi said that she had told Itsunori Onodera, the chair of the working panel of the suprapartisan council, of her hope that the council will hold discussions that convince many people, even if it takes the whole month of July.

When Tamaki asked if Takaichi had changed her plan to raise the food tax rate back to 8 pct after two years, Takaichi said that her vision of limiting the tax cut to two years had not changed.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]