After their representatives posed questions to the government in plenary sessions of the Diet, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito are becoming more and more recalcitrant over the government and the Democratic Party of Japan's call for interparty consultation over the government plan to raise a consumption tax as a prerequisite to reform of the social welfare system, especially the pension system. The government and lawmakers should be careful about discussing a consumption tax raise at this stage because it could damage economic recovery, thus leading to less overall tax revenue. But the ruling and opposition camps should not hesitate to discuss the future shape of the pension system and how to fund it.

In his questioning in a Lower House plenary session last week, LDP chief Sadakazu Tanigaki criticized the government for trying to increase the consumption tax by taking advantage of the DPJ's Diet strength attained through its election manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election, which he said was "full of lies."

The Noda administration plans to raise the consumption tax from the current 5 percent to 8 percent in April 2014 and to 10 percent in October 2015. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that his tax plan does not run counter to the DPJ's promise that it will not increase the consumption tax during the tenure of the current Lower House members because the tax raise will come into effect after the expiration of the tenure.