Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi on Thursday requested that opposition parties take part in consultations with the DPJ over a planned increase of the consumption tax and reform of the social welfare system. But the opposition parties have declined.
Given the impact of the tax raise and the importance of social welfare reform, it is important that both the ruling and opposition parties openly discuss merits and demerits of the planned tax increase and social welfare reform.
Under a plan adopted by the DPJ and the government, the consumption tax will be raised from the current 5 percent to 8 percent in April 2014 and to 10 percent in October 2015.