Factbox: Japan to unveil $50 billion stimulus to cope with tax hike

(Reuters) - Japan's government is to announce an economic stimulus package on Tuesday worth $50 billion or more to cushion the economy from the blow of raising the national sales tax, a final draft of the government plan, seen by Reuters, shows. Following are some points of the program, meant to support growth in the short term while curbing Japan's huge public debt over time, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to announce on Tuesday. - The government will raise the sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent in April, the first major fiscal reform since 1997. - The stimulus package, worth about 5 trillion yen ($50.96 billion), will include some 2 trillion yen in tax cuts. - The government will end a special corporate tax for earthquake reconstruction in April, a year earlier than planned, saving companies 900 billion yen. It will effectively cut the corporate tax liability for a big company in Tokyo to 35.6 percent from 38.0 percent. - Companies boosting their spending on factories and equipment will get 740 billion in tax breaks. - A tax break for companies that raise wages will be expanded by 160 billion yen. - A tax break for home buyers will be expanded by 110 billion yen. - The draft plan does not mention cutting the corporate tax rate, but ruling party tax officials agreed to consider the issue "promptly". - The plan includes an estimated 1 trillion yen in public works spending for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. ($1=98.125 yen) (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by William Mallard and Neil Fullick)

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