Takaichi eager for passage of tax cut bill

New York – Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi early Wednesday expressed her eagerness for the passage of legislation to lower the 8% consumption tax rate for food to 1% for two years.

“I want to achieve results by enacting laws familiar to the people” during the extraordinary session of parliament, expected to start Oct. 5, Takaichi said of the tax cut legislation at a news conference to wrap up her trip to New York.

She also announced a plan to submit legislation to diversify oil procurement channels.

It is uncertain whether the tax cut legislation will pass parliament without a hitch, because the ruling coalition led by her Liberal Democratic Party is a minority in the Senate, previously called the House of Councilors.

“We sincerely hope to discuss with opposition parties and form broad-based cooperation in areas where we can agree, in order to advance policies,” Takaichi said.

“We’ll carefully prepare bills and hold discussions on them while giving sufficient consideration and respecting the opinions of each party, so that the bills will be supported by as many political parties as possible,” she added.

Regarding legislation to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives, Takaichi stated, “We should work earnestly to realize (its enactment),” given that the seat reduction is included in the LDP’s coalition agreement with the Japan Innovation Party, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai.

She made only a general comment on a potential coalition with the Democratic Party for the People, which some LDP members are pursuing.

“Without political stability, we cannot take policy measures to realize a strong economy or promote strong diplomacy or security,” she said. “We constantly think about necessary response.”