The government formally adopted a plan Friday to hike the consumption tax in 2014 as Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda vowed to push for shrinking the size of the Diet and the cost of running the bloated bureaucracy to appease frustrated voters.
Noda's Cabinet meanwhile pledged to attach an additional clause to the tax bills that states the government will prepare legislation "for the next reform."
This was immediately seen as a stepping stone to a further tax hike because key members of the government and the DPJ have argued that the sales tax should be eventually raised to 15 or 20 percent to cover swelling welfare costs being generated by the nation's rapidly aging population.
(Japan Times)
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