Despite the administration’s timeline, the future of the policy remains highly volatile as the National Council races to secure an interim consensus by the end of June, ahead of a final decision by the Prime Minister.
Strong resistance has emerged from opposition benches; during Wednesday’s session, the Democratic Party for the People urged the government to bypass the tax cuts entirely and focus solely on direct benefits, whilst the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan challenged the underlying rationale of the one per cent figure.
Compounding the political friction is a massive fiscal question mark.
Crucially, the grand plan carries a staggering annual price tag of around 5 trillion yen to finance both the tax reductions and the corresponding welfare benefits, and ministers have yet to clarify exactly how this multi-trillion-yen shortfall will be funded.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
