Abe set to call snap Japan poll, delay tax hike

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set Tuesday to call a snap election, and seek voters' endorsement for more economic reforms after Japan slipped into recession.
Less than two years after he swept to power pledging to reinvigorate the country's flagging economy, Abe is expected to say more needs to be done to fix years of growth-sapping price-falls.
"We are eventually taking the opportunity to get rid of deflation," Abe told a meeting of lawmakers and officials from his junior coalition partner Komeito.
The last 24 months have seen two of the so-called "three arrows" of "Abenomics" fired -- massive fiscal stimulus and a flood of easy money. A third "arrow" of structural reforms is stuck in the quiver, a victim of the vested interests it is intended to undermine.
At its heart, Abenomics is intended to push prices up and get shoppers spending, with the aim of generating a self-reinforcing recovery as companies employ more people to meet growing demand.
The measures have sent the yen plunging, pushing up the cost of imports, including the fossil fuels used to power the country.
That stretched consumers -- 60 percent of the economy -- who were then walloped again in April after sales taxes rose from 5.0 to 8.0 percent, resulting in two consecutive quarters of contraction.
Abe is almost certain Tuesday to say he is delaying part two of the tax rise -- to 10.0 percent -- which is due for October.
"I will judge the consumption tax calmly," he said. "People's life won't get better without economic growth."
- New stimulus plans -
Ignoring criticism that he is loading the pork barrel, Abe is expected to order his ministers Tuesday to compile fresh economic stimulus, including measures to ease the impact of rising prices of imports.
The media consensus is that he will call the election for December 14, with the lower house to be formally dissolved later this week.
Opposition parties, who are still in disarray after their 2012 drubbing, will be hoping to capitalise on the difficulties experienced by voters whose wages are at a standstill while prices go up.
"It is clear that Abenomics has not had any positive impact on people's life at all," said Banri Kaieda, head of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
Yoshiki Yamashita, a Communist Party lawmaker, also said "Abenomics merely expanded the gap" between the haves and the have-nots.
But commentators across the spectrum agree that Abe, who enjoys approval ratings around 50 percent, is likely to stroll home in the popular vote, and point out that the premier's real target is rivals within his own fractious Liberal Democratic Party.
The thinking goes that as he faces a three-yearly party leadership election in September, he could stamp his authority over the grouping by resetting the clock now.
A new mandate would bolster his case for pushing ahead with the re-start of nuclear reactors -- an unpopular idea in a nation scarred by the Fukushima idsaster.
It would also strengthen his hand on pet issues like reforming Japan's view of its 20th century war-mongering, which he and other right-wingers say is masochistic.