A tax panel of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday agreed to raise the country’s key taxes to pay for the defence budget, but stiff opposition among lawmakers effectively delayed a decision on when to implement the politically unpopular move. The tax plan, following through on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s commitment to raise taxes to double defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product by 2027, had become bogged down in wrangling among lawmakers who objected to near-term tax increases that could hurt Japan’s fragile economy.
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