A government advisory panel working on a revision of Japan's three security and defense documents met and several members argued that defense spending must be kept at a sufficient level, with higher taxes left open as a way to pay for it.
The three documents — the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the Defense Buildup Program — set the direction of Japan's defense policy. The panel is reviewing them for revision.
Members said that after a review of spending, any shortfall in funding should not be ruled out as a candidate for tax increases, according to the discussion reported by NHK. The remarks put an explicit openness to higher taxes on the record at a time when the government has not said how it will pay for its defense buildup.
Raising taxes to fund defense is politically sensitive in Japan, where households have faced rising prices. The source does not say which members spoke, when the panel met, or how large a funding gap the government expects.