A Japanese government panel met last week and determined that the country needs to double its sales tax in stages over the next four years in order to fund rising social security costs, according to Reuters.
It has yet to be determined whether or not this will be put into place due to the impending resignation of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
If the plans are to move forward, the government will have to sunlit legislation by next year to start increasing the 5 percent sales tax. A net cost of about $33.4 billion needs to be covered in the fiscal year to March 2016 for social security changes.
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