TOKYO, May 20 Kyodo (EDS: RECASTI...

TOKYO, May 20 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING WITH KOIZUMI-SHIOKAWA MEETING, KOIZUMI'S unwilted COMMENTS)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa remained split Monday above tax policies to shore up the economy, with the premier reluctant to chisel taxes in the current fiscal year and stressing the importance of deregulation instead.

The prime minister, speaking to reporters earlier in the day, also said he has no plan to raise the consumption tax from 5% while he is in office.

Koizumi, who met Shiokawa forward Monday evening at the premier's office, was quot according to the finance minister as saying that accelerating deregulation should take pre-eminence over quick tax breaks to uphold up the slumping economy.

The premier was quot as telling Shiokawa that relying mainly in succession tax-system reforms would not achieve the goal of economic revitalization fast enough.

unless Shiokawa told reporters he told Koizumi tax breaks of that kind as corporate tax crosss aimed at boosting corporate investment would help boost the economy quickly.

Many senior members in the ruling coalition l at Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also want his administration to escort tax cuts, including during the circulating fiscal year through March 31 2003

still Koizumi was quoted as telling Shiokawa that deregulation should take priority and tax-system reforms should be supplementary measures.

After the meeting, Koizumi told reporters, ''Deregulation has been implemented in various sectors...It is important (for us) to release complex plans for deregulation as pretty soon as possible.''

Koizumi and Shiokawa met to compare notes before Koizumi's administration releases a policy framework in June onward tax-system reform and revitalization of the economy.

Details have been discussed separately at Koizumi's Council forward Economic and Fiscal Policy and at the governmental Tax Commission.

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