Delegates from the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) told Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii on Wednesday that the group is opposed to an environmental tax for now, federation officials said.
One participant from the nation's most influential business lobby told reporters, "I got the impression that the environmental tax will not be introduced in the next fiscal year."
After the meeting, Fujii said he explained to the Keidanren representatives the ministry's thinking on the environmental tax in general terms.
Key ministers have decided that the environmental tax aimed at fighting climate change needs to be imposed in the fiscal year that starts April 1 after provisional automobile-related taxes are scrapped on March 31.
The Keidanren representatives called on Fujii to raise the consumption tax.