Abe says he won't force sales tax hike if economic conditions worsen

No, Japan is not the same-many changes are fast occurring.

Trillions of yen of government debt, an exploding geriatric population,over 50% of jobs part time,a crumbling infrastructure and the Japanese are not having kids anymore!

Japan is rapidly becoming a different society and that ‘change’ is happening now

Abe is beginning to be afraid because he knows that an increase in the excise tax will lead to a loss of votes in the next general election.

In Spain the Socialist Party lost the elections by raising the excise tax from 16% to 21% in 2010. And it seems that Abe has the data from the Spanish experience so as not to make the same mistake.

Economic conditions are worsening!

The Japanese are getting poorer not richer-Abe knows this very well..........

Hike wages instead. It will be automatically followed by higher tax revenue due to higher consumer spending.

"We will proceed with the tax hike unless the economy is hit by a shock of the scale of the collapse of Lehman Brothers" in 2008, he said.

"A Lehman crisis-scale shock would be something like a global economic crisis or a huge earthquake," Abe added

He is just hedging his bet, but for the life of me I do not understand why, he is in effect a lame-duck pm.

Right...he is going to push through yet another change to the LDP bylaws and "allow" himself to be voted to the presidency of the LDP for a 4th term.

Chinas rise will only destroy Japan further, rising debts by heavy borrowing from companies which debts don't get repaid. Just state the truth in the media for once.. Be a man, not a mama boy to youre muppet lobbyists

Just cut government spending by 10%. Job done.

ahhh, the art of the 'definite maybe'..... he's a past master....

So it depends on how he feels on the day! That's visionary? and a sign of a great leader? Mmmm no, not today, tomorrow definatly, perhaps next week? Oh I don't know. Hang on I have to go overseas for a photo opportunity. What I didn't do it? Defiantly next week...and so it continues. Never a right time to blatantly shaft the serfs.

Hey dude, I thought your Abenomics was supposed to cure the economic woes?

I think he made it pretty clear? Unless world economy tanks, the hike will go through

Either the tax hikes are the right thing to do or they are not. This guy blatantly chases votes - not what is right.

Just give in your resignation, you already knew our economy is getting worse. Olympics scapegoat, won't save you..

What Abe means is that if he manages to get a referendum on revising the constitution scheduled during this Diet session he will postpone the tax increase in order to bribe people into voting for his illiberal revisions.

I still don't understand how, according to Abe, a 2% price increase due to inflation is good for the economy, but a 2% price rise as a result of a tax increase is bad. I suppose the former results in more profits for his big-business mates, but for consumers the cause of the price rise is irrelevant.

No chance the economy will improve so much as to warrant a tax hike. It hasn’t in years, why should it now? I’m sorry for the PM but it just ain’t happening.

Serrano: When are they going to cut spending?

They have. Now they don’t have public trash cans in the streets. You can thank Ohm Shinrikyo for that. Immediately after the attack they got rid of all the trash cans. Never again. Now the trash is on the ground.

Thought he would. He's been just trying to spur the economy by convincing the public to buy before the tax hike

What Abe means is that if he manages to get a referendum on revising the constitution scheduled during this Diet session he will postpone the tax increase in order to bribe people into voting for his illiberal revisions.

Constitutional revisions in Japan are totally legal. And the mechanisms for doing so within the constitution itself are clearly defined.

Another thing is that you are against the proposals presented within your personal opinion.

Come on folks, who of us did not see this coming? To go ahead with the planned sale tax hike would be a political suicide by Abe. But to not introduce the sale tax hike as planned would leave Japan in a forever worsening economic situation with rising debts and rising deflation. Japan has seen a rise in the child poverty to 17% in just three decades!

The situation will severely worsen if Abe don't hike the sale tax in 2019 as planned. The big question is if Abe puts Japan's future ahead of his political reputation?

So, we will pay more taxes, but will still get nothing more from the government.

School still damn expensive, parents can't afford having more than one child.

Social security still way inferior to Europe.

Salaries still incredibly low and less and full time employee contacts aren't a norm anymore.

I don't mind if they rise the VAT to European levels, but in that case they have to offer social benefits of the same level too.

Abe is only puppet of Takaka heizo (wall street spy) is Nikai Toshihiro (spy of communist china).

He was hand-picked because only Abe could shut the

conservative wing of LDP.

Abe is a great traitor of Japan and must resign!

He would do the same technique again for the LDP winning in the forthcoming election as LDP did with the Sales Tax Hike before. It's the info battle tactics amog the world politics since US Presidential Election for Trump government.

When are they going to cut spending?

Abe will claim all the credit for the Olympics being "the greatest ever" then retire before the brown stuff really hits the fan and everything collapses.

People have been predicting the “doom” of Japanese economy for 30 years now. They are always wrong. A 10% consumption Tax is lower than most Nations in the OECD. The sky wont fall.

So, it’s this guy’s idea to raise it, or at least he confirmed it will go through, and now he’s warning... himself?

Hahaha, poor Abe.