OTHER NEWS - Sept. 23, 1994

Japanese Tax Cuts Approved: Matching the thrust of American demands, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama’s coalition Cabinet approved another two years of income-tax cuts without increasing other taxes in a move designed to stimulate Japan’s economy. The reform package, to be submitted to Parliament for approval, expected this fall, guarantees that Japanese citizens will pocket at least $104 billion in tax savings in the next two years. That sum is more than a third of the value of pump-priming programs implemented since 1992. Two days ago, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen issued an unusual statement praising the measure, still being hammered out, as a likely spur to imports.