Leaders of two major business lobbies were at odds Tuesday over a tax hike proposal by an advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
"I appreciate the (panel's) report in that it grapples squarely with the issue of how to build a sustainable tax system," said Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren).
The report was submitted to Koizumi by the government's Tax Commission. It urges the government to trim tax breaks for the elderly and hike the consumption tax over the next 10 to 15 years to cover the ballooning welfare expenses for the nation's rapidly aging population.