Japanese Communist Party Chairman Kazuo Shii pledged Thursday to scrap the second stage of the consumption tax hike as he outlined the party's platform ahead of the campaign for the Dec. 14 Lower House election.
He said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies had failed and that the JCP would demand that the tax hike be repealed.
"The prime minister had no choice but to delay the planned consumption tax hike to 10 percent, which seems to be an admission that his economic policies have failed," Shii told reporters at the party's headquarters in Tokyo.