The Tax Commission, an advisory body that directly reports to the prime minister, has decided to put off for a year or so recommendations on middle-range tax reforms. Short of official recommendations, however, commission chief Hiromitsu Ishi has issued a personal statement calling for public discussions to consider the consumption tax as a revenue source for funding social security entitlements. Still, he has not touched on specifics such as whether the consumption tax should be raised and when such a raise, if needed, should take effect.
Since the commission's current three-year term ends Oct. 5, it is set to end its term without issuing any such recommendations. This is the first time since its inception in 1962 that the commission will end its term without completing its primary task.
It is clear that the commission avoided tax-reform recommendations because it was too conscious of the nation's political calendar this month -- the election of a new ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Wednesday followed by the Diet's selection of a new prime minister. An Upper House election is scheduled in the summer of 2007.