I agree with everything you wrote there except you put 'savers' when you should have put 'debtors'.
The hike in sales tax is meant to impress the world that Japan is trying to keep its government debt under control. IMHO it is lip-service, the debt is so huge that it will take decades to erode and that is assuming that the Japanese can actually get to a point where the debt starts to decrease.
The sales tax has another important aspect, it directly contributes to consumer price inflation.
Expect to see this creeping up some more, definitely next year if not before.
The hike in sales tax is meant to impress the world that Japan is trying to keep its government debt under control. IMHO it is lip-service, the debt is so huge that it will take decades to erode and that is assuming that the Japanese can actually get to a point where the debt starts to decrease.
The sales tax has another important aspect, it directly contributes to consumer price inflation.
Expect to see this creeping up some more, definitely next year if not before.
Carbon-Dioxide: the gas of life!