Global Economics Monthly: Taxing Times for Abenomics

Volume III | Issue 3 | March 2014

Even as doubts grow about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s continued commitment to economic reform in Japan, “Abenomics” may suffer another blow on April 1, when the nation’s consumption tax rises from 5 to 8 percent. Critics warn that the tax hike could once again nip Japan’s recovery in the bud, much as the last increase in 1997 is widely viewed to have done. But the culprit then—and the
risk today—is not the tax increase per se, but rather errors of both commission and omission in other areas of economic policy.

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Matthew P. Goodman

Matthew P. Goodman

Former Senior Vice President for Economics