Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki said Friday the second stage of the consumption tax rate hike should proceed as planned next year, but said the ruling party is closely monitoring the economic situation.
"The railroad (toward the hike) is already there. So what we should do now is work to create the economic climate smoothly," Tanigaki told journalists in Tokyo.
The government plans to double the sales tax to 10 percent in October 2015 to follow up on the first stage of the hike to 8 percent from 5 percent this past April.
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