Though Mr Yosano, the chief secretary, is a firm advocate of raising the consumption tax to plug Japan's budget deficits and pay for future pensions, Mr Abe appears in no mood to launch such a debate.

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When Parliament's budget committee debated a proposal to repeal Japan's consumption tax in December, Obuchi found himself sandwiched between two coalition partners with conflicting views.

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On the economy, the differences among candidates turn on whether a rise in the consumption tax is needed to plug a gaping budget deficit and bring down the high levels of debt incurred when Japan tried to spend its way out of slump in the 1990s.

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The RBI has long contended that the government should reduce its budget deficit, which the central bank blames for stoking inflation by encouraging consumption, and for crowding private borrowers out of the capital markets.

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"It excludes the majority of housing costs faced by homeowners and differences in calculation mean it may be considered a better representation of the way consumers change their consumption patterns in response to price changes, " the 2010 Budget document explained.

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Both islands host American bases, and even in these straitened times the Pentagon's budget can stretch to an experimental technology that might reduce a base's fuel consumption.

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Crunching the numbers for new revenues from the doubled consumption tax still shows a gapping JPY 16.6 trillion (USD 207 billion) budget deficit after 2015.

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