The Japanese government plans to provide 10,000 yen in cash benefits per person to low-income earners to help ease the impact of the planned consumption tax increase in April 2014, informed sources said.
The one-time payments, set to cover members of families that are exempted from local residential tax, are estimated to cost the government some 240 billion yen, the sources said. The government plans to finance the program under a supplementary budget for fiscal 2013 ending in March.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to make his final decision early next month on whether to raise the 5 pct consumption tax to 8 pct in April 2014 as planned.
