The government has yet to make a decision on raising the consumption tax in fiscal 2007, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday, downplaying the finance minister's remark the previous day in favor of such a hike.
"That was not the government's decision but the finance minister's idea," the top government spokesman told reporters.
Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa suggested Sunday that the consumption tax, now 5 percent, may be raised in the year starting in April 2007, which would be a year after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's term as president of the Liberal Democratic Party expires if he is re-elected in September.
The prime minister's pledge not to raise the tax during his tenure should not be taken at face value, Shiokawa said.
Koizumi is seeking his third term as president of the LDP in the presidential election slated for September.