Ishiba Vows to Decide Tax Relief Together with Funding Plan

   Tokyo, Feb. 3 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Monday that his government will decide the timing of a planned increase in the minimum taxable income at the same time as measures to secure funds to cover the change.
   Similarly, the government will decide on lowering the gasoline tax together with a related funding measure, Ishiba said at a meeting of the Budget Committee in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament.
   "We can't do anything irresponsible," he said in response to an opposition call for swiftly raising the taxable income threshold from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.78 million yen and lowering the gasoline tax.
   When to implement the measures will be shown "together with what to do about the resulting decrease in tax revenue," he said.
   Asked about the possibility that parliamentary members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Tokyo chapter may have been involved in a slush funds scandal rocking the LDP's group in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, Ishiba said, "I will ask Tokyo chapter lawmakers for their views, if necessary."

(2025/02/03-18:55)

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