The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) proposed Thursday that the consumption tax be raised gradually from the current 5 percent to an upper limit of 18 percent by 2025.

The powerful business lobby made the proposal, aimed at helping to finance ballooning social security costs, in a report that fleshed out ideas proposed in January by its chairman, Hiroshi Okuda.

The report says the government should earmark the tax on goods and services as basic revenue to finance an expected increase in social security expenses due to the aging of society, including medical services and nursing care for elderly citizens.