Japan Tobacco Groups Call for No Tax Growth

Japan Tobacco Inc., tobacco farmers and cigarette retailers on at the same time called on the ruling Liberal Democratic Party not to raise the tobacco tax.

The tobacco industry parties submitted the written claim to Sadakazu Tanigaki, who chairs the LDP's Policy Research Council, when the ruling party began tax system reform negotiations.

They said in the document that a tobacco tax hike will push more smokers to quit smoking at a time when the domestic market is decreasing and cause a tax income drop against the government's expectation. The increase will devastate the industry, they added.

JT Vice President Ryoichi Yamada, at a press conference, criticized a move by a group of lawgivers to raise cigarette prices to 1,000 yen per pack from about 300 yen currently through a tax hike. He also added that no country in the world imposes such a heavy tax on smokers.