A key government panel outlined a plan to overhaul of government spending and taxes aimed at restoring the country to fiscal health, but did not provide specifics on the size of expected budget cuts or consumption tax increases.
In the interim report on the reform of revenues and expenditures, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy urged the government to work toward a primary surplus -- annual tax revenues minus outlays other than debt-servicing costs -- by fiscal 2011.
The panel, chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said it will try to put the level of debt as a share of gross domestic product on a steady downward trend by the mid-2010s.