TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) made no mention of reviewing financial income tax in its campaign platform for the Oct.31 general elections, a draft obtained by Reuters showed. Kishida, who has vowed to rectify wealth disparities, had previously said reviewing financial income tax would be an option in addressing income gaps. The absence of the financial income tax in its campaign platform may indicate a tug of war within the LDP between lawmakers backing efforts to correct wealth gaps and those embracing market-oriented capitalism. Some pundits have called for raising Japan's financial income tax levied on investment income from the current 20% to raise more from the rich and fund steps to support low-income households. "If the tax rate is raised to 30% from the current 20%, that would raise tax revenue by 400 billion yen ($3.57 billion)," said Junichi Makino, chief economist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Source: The Star October 08, 2021 07:30 UTC