A consumption tax cut is front and center ahead of this month's Upper House election, the unlikely position gaining some ground due to general economic conditions in the country and political math.
“There should be a broader scope of topics and issues to be discussed, but voter attention is inevitably drawn to the immediate problem of inflation,” said Shinichiro Kobayashi, chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting.
Japanese households are struggling to make ends meet as price increases outpace wage growth. Inflation is running at about 3% this year, and was 3.5% in May. The price of rice has more than doubled year on year.
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