A day after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida explained the gist of his upcoming economic package — featuring a cut in income and resident tax and cash handouts for lower-income households — ruling and opposition parties on Friday questioned him on the actual impact of the measures.
Amid widespread doubt over the necessity of fiscal expansionist measures in a country with an inflated government deficit, Kishida defended tax cuts as an effective way to pull out of a long-standing deflationary spiral.
“I think it is important to go ahead with our economic policy, clearly explaining that overcoming deflation will be beneficial to the nation's finances,” the prime minister said during the opening session of the budget committee, answering questions from Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Koichi Hagiuda, who served as economy minister at the onset of the Kishida administration.