The Finance Ministry's top bureaucrat, Yasutake Tango, said this week his ministry will prepare to raise the consumption tax as stipulated by law, but it is also ready to change course if the Democratic Party of Japan, which is reportedly against a consumption tax hike over the next four years, takes power.
"One basic, big principle is that the administrative agency implements policies based on laws approved by the Diet," Tango, the new administrative vice finance minister, said in an interview with The Japan Times. "First, it is basic that we will make various preparations in accordance with them."
A provision of the partially revised income tax law that passed the Diet in March stipulates that the government should revise the consumption tax and other taxes to establish a sustainable fiscal structure, provided the economy improves within three years.