The government's expert panel on the planned consumption tax hike wrapped up discussions Saturday with more than 70 percent of its members supporting the plan as it now stands, saying Japan will suffer a much bigger economic blow if the tax isn't raised.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, before leaving Oct. 7 for a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, will be deciding if the government should follow through on the original plan to raise the tax by 3 percentage points to 8 percent next April and then to 10 percent in October 2015.
The prime minister will have to engage in a delicate political balancing act in deciding when and how to raise the tax without losing the trust of the international community, which has pushed Japan to reduce its more than ¥1 quadrillion debt, and without seeing his approval rate plunge for raising taxes.