The government should raise the consumption tax to support the ailing public pension system in future, senior members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's tax panel agreed Friday.
The prevailing opinion during the day's meeting was believed to reflect Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge not to raise the tax while in office. His term as LDP president expires in fall 2006.
In a related move, the pension task force of the LDP and its coalition partner New Komeito agreed they must decide by month's end what source will be used to help finance the system for three years up through fiscal 2006.
At the same meeting, the two parties also agreed to increase the government's public pension system burden.
The share should be raised gradually to 50 percent from the current one-third over five years from fiscal 2004, they said.
The new burden is estimated at 2.7 trillion yen a year.
Last-minute efforts to find ways to finance the ailing public pension are expected to culminate next week.