‘Embarrassment for Japan’: PM wants to cut sales tax but cash registers say no

Japan prime minister Sanae Takaichi promised the tax cut to ease the burden of the cost of living crisis but has come up against a technical hitch. Photograph: DAJ/Getty Images/amana images RF

The Japanese government has pledged to suspend an 8% sales tax on food but says it is being thwarted by an unexpected opponent – uncooperative cash registers.

According to the devices’ manufacturers, the systems at big retail chains that process everything from cash to cardless transactions were never designed to calculate a tax rate of zero and so they require a major overhaul that could take up to a year.