TOKYO (Reuters) – There is “room for raising” corporate taxes, former Japanese defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, a leading candidate in the ruling party leadership race, was quoted as saying late on Saturday by Kyodo News.
“There are still companies that can bear the tax burden. I would like them to bear it a little more,” Ishiba said in a live webcast related to the election, Kyodo reported.
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan’s former environment minister and also a leading candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership, has expressed his intention to propose a carbon tax, according to the report.
Koizumi said that if the carbon tax is not passed, taxes will be imposed on trade with Europe, where the tax will be imposed, Kyodo reported.
Sanae Takaichi, the minister in charge of economic security and another candidate for the LDP leadership, said she would oppose tax increases for several years, the news agency reported.
“We should not raise taxes at all until we see a move toward the price stability goal, where demand exceeds supply,” Kyodo News quoted her as saying.
Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, which has a parliamentary majority, is set to elect a new leader on Sept. 27, with the winner set to replace outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (This story has been corrected to say Saturday, not Friday, in the first paragraph.)