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Over 60 pct Japanese oppose further sales tax hike: poll

Xinhua, March 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

The latest poll released Sunday showed that 64.6 percent of the Japanese public oppose the government's plan to further hike sales tax from current 8 percent to 10 percent in April next year, according to local reports.

The telephone survey, which was conducted by Japan's Kyodo News through the weekend, also showed that 44.3 percent of the respondents approve a possible "double election" in which the National Diet's lower house may be dissolved for a general election together with the planned upper house race in this summer.

Two world leading economists and Nobel laureates Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz recently told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe directly to forgo the further sales tax hike plan on concerns of the negative effects on Japan's economy.

Abe called a snap general election for the lower house in late 2014 after his decision to delay the planned second round of sales tax hike from 8 percent to 10 percent by 18 months to April 2017 as the first consumption tax hike in April 2014 greatly impacted on the weak recovery trend of the country's stagnant economy.

Speculation said it is not impossible for the prime minister to call again a snap general election for the lower house to coincide with the upper house election over his decision on the second round of sales tax hike.

Meanwhile, the poll also showed that support rate for the prime minister's cabinet climbed 1.7 percentage points to 48.4 percent from last survey in February, while disapproval rate stayed at 39.5 percent.

Two major opposition parties here, the Democratic Party of Japan and Japan Innovation Party, on Sunday merged and formed the Minshinto, or the Democratic Party to confront with the Abe-led ruling coalition in summer's upper house election.

The survey, however, said about 67.8 percent are not holding expectations on the newly launched opposition party, which is the largest opposition party since the form of the Abe-led ruling camp in late 2012, and only 26.1 percent said the party is "promising." Enditem