The Liberal Democratic Party reopened discussions Wednesday on raising the tax on cigarettes after Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told executives of the LDP's tax panel the government needs the extra revenue to start putting its finances in order next year.

"I am asking you to raise the cigarette tax so that we can keep new issues of government bonds at around 30 trillion yen in next year's budget," Tanigaki said.

Capping new government bond issues is seen as one of the first steps in reining in ballooning public debt.