OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED SALES TAX SPREADS IN JAPAN
Opposition to government plans to impose
a five pct sales tax is spreading nationwide ahead of the start
of campaigning for local elections next week, political
analysts said.
    The Asahi Shimbun said 31 of the 47 prefectural assemblies
had so far opposed, demanded amendments to, or expressed
wariness about the tax. Assemblymen from the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) have also joined the opposition against
the tax in 11 prefectural assemblies, the daily reported.
    About 2,600 elections will be held on April 12 and 26 for a
wide range of local posts, including 13 governors.
    The sales tax is one of the main planks of Prime Minister
Yasuhiro Nakasone's plan to overhaul the tax system.
    A close aide to Nakasone has said the sales tax issue will
have a minimal impact on the local elections because centrist
parties by and large support LDP candidates in many of the
races for governors. In the assembly elections, even LDP
candidates oppose the tax, he said.
    On March 8, the LDP lost an Upper House by-election in the
conservative stronghold of Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan
for the first time in 25 years. The opposition socialist winner
campaigned on the single issue of the sales tax.
    The surprise LDP defeat in Iwate, coupled with Nakasone's
sagging popularity, has forced the party to compromise with the
opposition and agree to postpone public hearings on the fiscal
1987/88 budget to March 19/20 from March 13/14.
    The opposition parties have been staging recurring
parliamentary boycotts to show their disapproval of the sales
tax contained in the budget. They returned to the Lower House
Budget Committee last Friday but walked out again after a few
hours, demanding detailed data on the tax. But parliamentary
sources said they are expected to agree in a day or two to
dispose of some of 29 bills the LDP will submit.
    The bills include nine which will become extinct on March
31 unless some action is taken, the sources said. These cover
such uncontroversial topics as wages for diplomats and
revisions of the law covering court employees.
    Discussion is also expected of a provisional budget to
allow the government to continue operating while debate on the
main budget continues beyond the April 1 start of fiscal
1987/88, the sources said. The provisional budget could cover
some 50 days and include authorisation for spending on some
public works. Otherwise, parliament will go into virtual recess
until local elections start on April 12, they said.
 REUTER
