Lately, Japan has had to cope and find answers to its troubling economy and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is no stranger to controversies to try and aide the country in his own way. Take for instance the new tax increase which has just begun on April 1st.It has been about 17-years since Japan had seen much of a tax increase. The new consumption tax is now in effect and unfortunately this will cause many consumers and businesses alike to carry around more coin and consider their budgets more carefully. Japanese Yen stores such as Daiso Japan now have to charge 108-yen per product instead of 105 or less. Many in Japan were raiding stores and purchasing everything they could from toilet paper to refrigerators because they knew the cost would go up in April. Those that want anything from vending machines are expected to pay more as well and the ever so popular 10,000-yen haircuts will now cost 10,080-Yen.The rise in taxes (now 8%) is expected to yield 4.5trillion yen or $43.6bn USD per year; however it has been argued by some economists that the increase in sales tax will reduce sales. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proclaims that this increase will help the economy and that the taxes will rise once again in 2015 up to 10%. JapanTimes reports that it’s possible that the tax increase may add into the financial burden of businesses to 7.5trillion yen per year. They have also added that the only way that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to work is if businesses increase wages which both medium-size and small businesses are very cautious to do.Whether this plan will work or fail, we cannot tell but if future repeats itself again, Prime Minister Shinzo may be seeking for a new job as did the other Prime Ministers did after increasing taxes. Let’s hope that the economy will not dwindle more than it has.

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