Japan’s Prime Minister is looking again at lower corporate taxes to provide a new impetus to growth in the economy. The Finance Minister has however again cast doubt on whether such a policy is viable at the present time.
In a meeting of the Government’s tax and economic panel on January 20 2014, its private-sector members recommended that Japan’s effective corporate tax rate should be reduced to around 25 percent from its current 35 percent level, to encourage foreign investment and further growth in the country.
However, it will be the Prime Minister who will take the final decision, as he did on the first round of consumption tax increases and on the composition of the stimulus package to accompany it.
