Takaichi Vows to Seek Tax Cut Consensus by Summer

Tokyo, Feb. 27 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday that she plans to obtain a consensus on a planned consumption tax exemption for food by this summer and submit related legislation to an extraordinary session of parliament seen to be convened in autumn. “It would be reckless to submit a bill now using our majority strength,” Takaichi said in a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower parliamentary chamber. “We do not expect food prices to fall drastically, so I ask you to share your wisdom.” Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party had pledged in the Feb. 8 general election to lower the consumption tax on food to zero for two years. The government has launched a new national council to discuss the proposal. The LDP won more than two-thirds of the 465 Lower House seats in the general election. Elsewhere in the Budget Committee meeting, the prime minister argued that Japan’s Imperial succession should be limited to male heirs from the Imperial Family’s paternal line. “An expert panel report said that it is appropriate to limit (heirs) to men in the paternal line, and I respect this report,” Takaichi said. “The Imperial throne has never been inherited by people from the maternal line.” Still, she said that it would be disrespectful to make light of the fact that the country has had female Emperors in the past. Discussions on ensuring stable Imperial succession are being held against the background of the fact that there are only three Imperial Family members eligible to succeed the throne, including Crown Prince Akishino, 60, the brother of current Emperor Naruhito, and Prince Hisahito, 19, the only son of the Crown Prince. The prime minister said that economic security would be a major issue to be considered in the planned revision of the government’s three key national security-related documents. Takaichi again defended her distribution of gift catalogs worth about 30,000 yen to all Lower House members in her ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who won their seats in the Feb. 8 election, saying that she used the custom of giving return gifts to wedding guests as a reference. “After the (general) election, many lawmakers and groups invited me to dinners,” she said. “I am not comfortable with dinner parties, but I wanted to express my feelings.” In a plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper parliamentary chamber, Thursday, Takaichi said she does not plan to ask the LDP members to return the catalogs or gifts they obtained from the catalogs. On a March 19 summit between Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said at Friday’s Lower House Budget Committee meeting that the two countries will align their views on policies regarding China before Trump visits China from late March. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]