Yosano eyes sales tax hike around 2015

TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo - Japanese Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano suggested Saturday the consumption tax rate could be hiked in around 2015 in reforming social security and taxation systems.
''When I studied the issue in the Liberal Democratic Party, the figure of 2015 was floated in discussions,'' Yosano told a TV program without elaborating what rate the tax would be hiked to from the current 5 percent.
Yosano also suggested the rate is likely to stay unchanged at least until 2013 unless a snap election for the House of Representatives is held before the four-year term of its members expires.
''The ruling Democratic Party of Japan has a policy of not raising the rate for four years from 2009, when we had the (previous) general elections,'' Yosano said.
''We cannot hike the rate drastically'' in one go, Yosano also said. ''We'll need the judgment that the economic circumstances can permit a tax increase.''
Yosano, a defector from the LDP and now an independent, said he will refrain from helping Prime Minister Naoto Kan persuade the opposition camp to take part in bipartisan talks on social security and tax system reforms.
He will instead focus producing an outline on the matter in June, Yosano said.