Japan PM could make final decision on sales tax after G7 summit: LDP lawmaker

Kozo Yamamoto, a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker, said the decision rested with Abe on whether to press ahead with the planned increase in the tax from 8 percent to 10 percent in April next year.

There is speculation that Abe could postpone the tax increase due to the stagnant economy, and weak consumer spending that is hampering the government's efforts to jolt the economy out of a long deflationary phase.

Yamamoto and other LDP lawmakers who support the government's so-called "Abenomics" reflationary strategy plan to submit their own economic proposal to the premier next week.

(Reporting by Takashi Umekara, writing by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)