18 June 2010 / REUTERS, TOKYO
Japan’s ruling Democratic Party appealed to voters on Thursday with a pledge to rein in the country’s huge debt, shifting policy gears as it seeks to ride a rebound in popularity to victory in a July 11 election.
In a manifesto for the upper house election, the Democrats called for multi-party debate on drastic tax reform including the 5 percent sales tax, opening the door to a future tax hike the Democrats are betting worried voters will accept, if not welcome. The Democrats ousted their long-dominant conservative rivals in a historic general election last year, promising to cut waste and focus spending on households to spur growth. They must now win next month’s election to forge ahead smoothly with major policies like cutting Japan’s huge debt. Europe’s debt woes have fanned concern about a Japanese public debt already twice the size of the economy, and Prime Minister Naoto Kan has made fixing state finances a top priority. Surveys show Japanese voters, worried about their creaking pension and health care systems, have become less resistant to a sales tax rise, once viewed as anathema at election-time. “Public opinion is in favor of changing the manifesto to make it more practical,” DPJ senior lawmaker Hajime Ishii told Reuters in an interview. “I think what the people want is to achieve healthy finances in the next five to 10 years.”
