Saying "the time is not ripe," Liberal Democratic Party chief Sadakazu Tanigaki rejected an overture by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for talks earlier this month to secure help from the main opposition party to pass a law raising the sales tax, political sources said Wednesday.
Noda, who heads the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, has said he is staking his "political life" on the tax hike plan, and was apparently aiming to break the deadlock in the opposition-controlled House of Councilors, the sources said.
The prime minister has vowed to restore Japan's fiscal health by eventually doubling the current 5 percent consumption tax. It is believed he and Tanigaki met secretly in February.