NAGASAKI, Aug 24: Taxpayers in the southern Japanese city of Nagasaki gave the government some welcome support for its tax reform plans on Saturday, telling officials they’d be willing to pay more if it helped future generations.

We shouldn’t be passing heavy responsibilities on to our children. Without tax reforms, I see no future for Japan, said an accountant, among 200 residents who turned out for a meeting with Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa and other officials.

Such views would have been music to the ears of Shiokawa, who had come to explain the government’s plans to cut company taxes over the next few years but boost revenues in the longer term by reducing individual tax breaks and raising consumption taxes.

The Finance Ministry is still working on the details of the reforms, which will be announced over the next few months.

But a survey carried out by officials after the meeting showed about 80 percent of the audience agreed with what they had heard so far, including plans to cut back on tax exemptions to families and lower-income workers.

There were critics too, however.

Some in the audience warned Shiokawa against straying from the government’s vow of fiscal prudence, while others asked exactly how much more ordinary people would have to pay.

It sounds like a lot of tax hikes ahead, said one speaker, who identified herself as a working woman. The economy’s doing so badly, bonuses are being cut. It’s hard. I want you to tell us how much more each of us will have to pay.

Shiokawa, however, offered few details except to reiterate that the government was looking at a combination of a tax cut of two trillion yen ($16.7 billion) and a tax increase of one trillion yen next year.

I can’t say for sure, here today, which taxes will be raised. But we will be reviewing tax exemptions and we will be looking at areas where there is room to raise rates, he said.

Many expect the government to cut back on tax benefits to families. In the years ahead, the government is also expected to make more lower-income workers pay up.

Currently one in four workers in Japan pays no income tax.

The Finance Ministry is also considering raising taxes on tobacco and low-malt beers and is looking at raising the five per cent sales tax.

Some politicians say the right tax cuts could kick-start demand and lift the economy out of the doldrums.

But many are sceptical, and say that without concrete plans Japan risks further damage to its fiscal position, which is already the worst among major industrial nations. Japan’s public debt stands at 140 per cent of its gross domestic product.

The Finance Ministry saw tax revenues fall 3.4 per cent short of budget projections in the last fiscal year to March due to a prolonged economic slump.

Economists polled by Reuters last week said GDP data to be released next Friday would likely show the economy grew by a meagre 0.2 per cent in April to June from the previous quarter, an annualised rate of 0.8 per cent.—Reuters