The government is unlikely to finalize a key outline on fiscal 2010 tax reforms until next week, Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said Wednesday.
The delay will make the government's efforts to finish drafting the fiscal 2010 budget by the end of December even more difficult.
"Yes, you are right about that," Fujii said at a news conference when asked whether the government is planning to postpone endorsement of the outline after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama returns to Tokyo on Sunday from climate change talks in Copenhagen.
Members of the Tax Commission agreed Monday that they would try to hammer out the specifics of tax reforms for the year starting in April by Friday, instead of Tuesday as they had hoped, after failing to come up with them initially on Dec. 11.