S&P says Japan sales tax hike delay makes 'some sense'

Delaying a sales tax increase in Japan scheduled for April next year makes "some sense" because the weak economy means a tax rise is not likely to increase revenue, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Tuesday. Going ahead with the plan could push Japan's economy into several quarters of anaemic economic growth, Kim Eng Tan, S&P's Asia-Pacific senior director of sovereign ratings, told Reuters in an interview. Delaying the tax hike would not be an indication that Japan's government i