Recently, the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister on 7 October 2013 that, the nation will increase its consumption tax from its current 5% levy to 8% from April 2014. The Japanese consumption tax applies to the supply or import of a wide range of goods and services in Japan.
The OECD also emphasized that the Japanese consumption tax hike is the first of many steps that are needed to achieve Japan’s target of primary budget surplus by 2020. It encouraged Japan to continue to develop detailed and credible fiscal consolidation plans to further strengthen confidence in Japan’s public finances.
