Tax revenues 1.4 trillion yen short

The government's tax revenue for fiscal 2006 is likely to fall short of projections by almost 1.4 trillion yen, Finance Ministry sources said Tuesday

The Finance Ministry projected it would collect 50.468 trillion yen in revenue for 2006, but the total is expected to be about 49.07 trillion yen because corporate tax revenue did not grow as much as expected.

"We will finalize the figures and release them within a day or two," Finance Minister Koji Omi told a news conference.

Tax revenue for the year that ended March 31 is expected to just top the 49.065 trillion yen collected in fiscal 2005, falling short of the ministry's projection by about 1.4 trillion yen.

The projection was made in December during the compilation of the supplementary budget for fiscal 2006.

Still, the government will likely post a surplus of around 800 billion yen in the fiscal 2006 general account, thanks to smaller than expected debt-servicing costs and low interest rates, the sources said.