Tokyo, Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka commented on tax cuts, the decline in Japanese share prices and banks' bad loans. ``The government is committed to tackling tax reform,'' Takenaka told a group of business leaders in Tokyo. ``Corporate tax cuts are especially needed to boost Japanese competitiveness.''
The government must also change the way it taxes gains on sales of securities and on land, he said. ``There is consensus emerging that the tax cuts need to be of considerable size, and tax cuts are the basis for any kind of other reforms.''
On stocks and banks' bad loans: ``Japan's stocks are weak due to uncertainties over U.S. military actions against terrorism. They are also weak after the bursting of the U.S information technology bubble.
``To clear out some of uncertainties in the (Japanese) stock market the government has to tackle the bad loan problem as soon as possible. ``Japan's strengths are its exports and its massive savings. Japan's economy won't grow without disposing of banks' bad loans as fast as possible. The worst investment is bad loans. Cutting losses as soon as possible is a precondition for economic growth.
``I am convinced Japan has a high growth potential. But unfortunately that strength won't come back to the economy for another couple of years.'' On his new task force to deal with bad loans: ``The project team will meet 10 times in a month to clear up the bad loans problem,'' he said. //www.quote.bloomberg.com