Japan's National Council on Social Security agreed Wednesday to implement the refund portion of a refundable tax credit system first, leaving the tax credit component for later discussion.
A draft presented last month proposed skipping tax credits initially to speed rollout and cut administrative workload, making refunds the near-term priority.
Japan Innovation Party, the Centrist Reform Alliance, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito did not oppose the refund-first approach, but pressed to keep talks going on the full system.
Debate also continued over a 2-year food consumption tax cut to be replaced by the new system: JIP said a 1% rate could be considered instead of 0% to ease cash-register updates, while CRA and others demanded a permanent zero rate.