The Tax Commission, an advisory body that directly reports to the prime minister, has started discussions under chairman Mr. Masaaki Honma, a professor at Osaka University. Sixteen of its 20 members, including Mr. Honma, were newly appointed. His appointment came as a surprise.
Reflecting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's intention, a plan to reappoint Mr. Hiromitsu Ishi, a Chuo University professor, as head of the panel was overturned. The plan had been pushed by Finance Ministry bureaucrats.
Mr. Abe apparently has bought into Mr. Honma's idea of pushing financial reconstruction by first accelerating economic growth to increase tax revenues. But the Tax Commission under Mr. Honma's leadership needs to learn a lesson from the experience of the commission under his predecessor Mr. Ishi.