Taxes not central to LDP's economic stimulus plan>
The second set of economic stimulus measures planned by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will probably focus on such issues as using more funds from the government fiscal investment and loan program rather than detailed tax deduction proposals, party officials said Wednesday.
A senior member of the LDP's Research Commission on the Tax System said after the day's panel meeting that any specific reductions or tax breaks could only be considered after more concrete tax revenue projections for the next fiscal year come out in early December. Actual tax revisions are most likely to be determined in mid-December, but there will be enough time to consider steps that would allow some of the changes to take effect beginning in January, before the necessary law revisions clear the Diet, he said.
LDP leaders had hoped to draw up a followup pump-priming plan to supplement the package of mainly deregulation measures released earlier this month. The package was largely criticized for being too vague and ineffective in the short-term. The tax revisions demanded by the LDP include corporate tax rate reductions, elimination of securities transaction and brokerage taxes, abolition or suspension of the landholding tax and a wide range of income tax deductions to help offset child-rearing and education expenses.