TOKYO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Japan Tobacco Inc said on Thursday that it strongly opposes a ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposal to raise the tobacco tax by two yen per cigarette.

A company statement quoted Japan Tobacco President Masaru Mizuno as saying a tax increase would ``damage all those involved in the industry throughout Japan'' and undermine efforts by industry stakeholders to recover from the impact of previous tax hikes. On Wednesday, Shizuka Kamei, policy chief of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, told reporters he had proposed that the LDP consider the tax hike for the fiscal year starting next April. The LDP dominates the ruling coalition. The proposal would raise the tax to nine yen per cigarette. Kamei said the tax hike would provide the government and local governments with additional revenues of 500 billion yen. Reacting to the news, shares in Japan Tobacco, which monopolises cigarette production in Japan, were at 822,000 yen on Thursday morning, down 59,000 yen or 6.7 percent from Wednesday.

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