A tax panel of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday agreed to raise the country's coroporate, income and tobacco taxes to pay for a doubling in the defence budget over the next five years as it confronts rising regional tensions.
The plan will be written into an annual tax-code revision for the next fiscal year from April, with the aim of gaining formal government approval on Friday, Yoichi Miyazawa, chief of the LDP's tax panel, told reporters.
