Blocked by fierce opposition from his own party, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday postponed finalizing a plan to give more fiscal freedom to prefectural and municipal governments.
The Cabinet handed the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito an outline of the plan, which would slash 3 trillion yen in strings-attached subsidies from the central government from fiscal 2005 through fiscal 2006.
But the outline does not indicate what subsidies will be cut, how much the cuts will be, when they will take effect, and what tax-collecting authority will be given to the prefectures and municipalities to compensate for the cuts.