Japan Mulls Benefits to Low-Income Households

Tokyo, Nov. 12 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government said Tuesday that it plans to provide benefits to low-income households to cushion the impact of rising prices as part of a proposed economic package.

Such benefits will be given to households exempted from residential tax payment, and child-rearing households will receive add-on benefits according to the number of children, according to a draft of the package that the government presented at a meeting of lawmakers.

The draft package also includes grants aimed at financing efforts by local governments to support school meals expenses at households.

The package also calls for more than 10 trillion yen in public spending, including subsidies, over several years to support technical development of and investment in artificial intelligence and advanced semiconductors.

With the spending, the government aims to promote capital investment by companies and spread economic effects across the country.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]