The Cabinet on Tuesday approved proposals to amend two laws to facilitate the corporate use of people's private information and improve tax collection even as doubts remain about how securely identities will be protected.
Experts say the increase in prying might alienate taxpayers.
One of the proposed amendments, which could be submitted to the Diet as early as Tuesday, would revise the citizen numbering system, dubbed My Number, in a way that allows the government to gain easier access to people's bank account data by asking them to submit it on a voluntary basis.