Japan Set To Raise Taxes To Pay Damages To Hepatitis Victims -Kyodo

StephenW

  TOKYO (Dow Jones)--The Japanese government is set to provisionally raise taxes and secure around Y700 billion in funds to pay damages to people who filed lawsuits over mass hepatitis B infections, Kyodo News reported Wednesday, sources close to the matter said.
  The tax hike would come over a five-year period starting next April, and the government will finalize the plan within this month, said the sources.
  The government in June admitted its responsibility for the hepatitis case, in which people became infected with the virus from repeated uses of needles in group vaccinations between 1948 and 1988.