this article is talking about relative poverty. it says that high economic growth creates new opportunities for people to find a job and to leave the poverty. it says that the growth over the past several years has demonstrated that this if fact does reduce the poverty levels.

Professor Wakatabe says that if the tax were increased, it would slow down the process of recovery from the recession. now the deflation rate is going down, driven by the personal consumption, which is good, but if the tax were raised, this would slow down the recovery.