Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Thursday it would be "extremely difficult" to carry out permanent tax cuts as part of proposed reductions of more than 1 trillion yen for fiscal 2003.
His comments before a House of Councilors committee session indicate he is cool to the idea floated by private-sector members of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, a top government policy-setting panel, to cut corporate income taxes funneled to the national government.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi issued orders Tuesday to cut more than 1 trillion yen in taxes in fiscal 2003 and fund the cuts over a number of years. He said legislation linking tax cuts with hikes to fund them should be crafted.