The Liberal Democratic Party said Thursday it will propose raising the 5 percent consumption tax to 10 percent in its election platform, while the ruling Democratic Party of Japan put off a decision on how it will deal with the contentious issue.
While drafting campaign pledges for next month's summer's House of Councilors election, the DPJ postponed a decision on how to restore fiscal health, including by hiking the sales tax, in the wake of Yukio Hatoyama's decision Wednesday to resign as DPJ president head and prime minister.