As Japan takes on the elusive challenge of fiscal reconstruction, slowing tax revenue growth is casting a shadow over the future of the aging country.
That bodes ill for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has touted recent growth in tax income since taking office in 2012 as one of the achievements of his Abenomics policy mix.
Under a draft fiscal 2017 budget approved Thursday by Abe's Cabinet, the government expects a 0.2 percent increase in revenues from corporate, income and sales taxes to ¥57.71 trillion ($490 billion).