Land minister Seiji Maehara has proposed raising the gift tax exemption limit for home buyers to ¥21 million from ¥6.1 million to help stimulate economic activity, sources said Wednesday.
Maehara will seek the increase as part of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry's tax reform requests for fiscal 2010, they said.
The previous government led by Prime Minister Taro Aso raised the limit by ¥5 million to ¥6.1 million, including a basic annual exemption of ¥1.1 million, as a temporary measure, when it adopted stimulus measures in April.
The tax exemption is granted to people aged 20 and over who receive financial support from their parents or other family members for the purchase of homes. The temporary increase that came into effect from January is effective through the end of 2010.
The envisaged exemption of ¥21.1 million would include the basic annual exemption, the sources said.