Their time is coming. The civil servants in Japan's Finance Ministry have watched nervously in recent years as the budget deficit has widened and government debt has risen sharply. Now that Japan's economy is growing again, the ministry is itching to raise taxes and close the gap. But many economists worry that Japan will repeat its mistake of 1997, when a rise in consumption taxes cut off a nascent economic upturn and plunged the economy back into recession. Can Japan get the timing right this time?
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