Japan's sales-tax increase is a start. But it won't put much of a dent in the country's ballooning health and welfare costs.
The main problem with Japan's fiscal state is a rapidly graying population that is pushing social welfare spending up at a pace of $12 billion a year.
But lackluster growth over the past two decades has led to a decline in tax revenue because of weaker corporate earnings and sluggish household income growth. (Wall Street Journal)
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