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For whom political parties are campaigning
Akahata editorial

Japanese Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) Vice Chair Miyahara Kenji said the business organization will support the Liberal Democratic Party in the coming general election, the reason being that the LDP is campaigning for the privatization of postal services as the "centerpiece of the Koizumi Cabinet's structural reform agenda." Kitashiro Kakutaro, president of the Japanese Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) and IBM Japan chairman, stated that the LDP's policy of privatizing postal services is good. He also said that the Democratic Party's call for postal savings to be reduced is correct.

This is how the business sector expresses support for the LDP and the DPJ using postal privatization and "strucutral reforms" as its standards of acceptability.

LDP and DPJ are vying to better serve corporate interests

The question here is what will the "structural reform" policy mean to the people, a policy pushed by the business sector.

The privatization of postal services, which the business sector seeks to use as a breakthrough to all "structural reforms," means cut-backs on public services, as made clear by the way the major banks are doing business: the closure and consolidation of branch offices and collecting as much fees as possible. The real aim of the privatization is to make the 340 trillion yen in the public postal savings and life insurance systems available tothe private sector.

Mail services as well as postal savings and life insurance are being run without using tax money by post offices throughout the country, including underpopulated areas. There can be no justification for shredding the post office network by privatizing these basic postal services.

The DPJ has announced a policy of imposing upper limits on the amount of postal deposits with the view of reducing postal savings.

To begin with, whether upper limits on deposits are necessary or not was discussed in the Koizumi Cabinet, and the issue was shelved after concluding that "such a measure will be criticized for pleasing private sector financial institutions." The DPJ is more straightforward in representing the business sector, as clear from Kitashiro's appraisal of the DPJ.

Kitashiro says that "structural reform" to reduce government as much as possible is the only way to deal with the worst fiscal deficit among major countries. But it is doubtful that the business leaders have any serious concern for the nation's fiscal situation.

Large corporations have amassed huge amounts of money, but they are unable to find a place to invest it. After making record profits, they have amassed 82 trillion yen in excess capital.

This situation must not be used to justify the argument that increasing large corporations' share of burdens will undermine their international competitiveness, says Ikeo Kazuto, a professor at Keio University who is also a member of a government advisory council, in a business magazine, He says that the option to increase corporate taxes is not to be excluded from the outset.

Government statistics show that the Japanese corporate share of burdens for taxes and costs for social services is 50-80 percent of that in European countries.

If Japanese business circles are really concerned for the nation's fiscal position, they should propose to shoulder tax burdens appropriate to their income.

On the contrary, however, they are only interested in reducing their own burdens at the expense of the general public. This is clearly stated in the so-called "Okuda Vision," a policy proposal published by Nippon Keidanren in January 2003 ("Envisioning a Vibrant, Attractive Nation in the Twenty-First Century").

They call for income tax deductions to be abolished, for low-income earners to pay more in taxes, and for the consumption tax rate to be raised to16 percent from the present five percent. They also demand that corporate tax rates be lowered and that their share of the costs for social insurance contributions be abolished.

Shifting burdens and responsibility onto general public

One must remember that the present fiscal deficit has been caused mainly by tax breaks for large corporations and the wealthy as well as by unnecessary public works projects offered in response to the business sector's demands. We must not let the government shift heavier burdens and fiscal responsibility onto the general public.

The LDP, Komei, and the DPJ have no willingness to correct the tax code that has repeatedly given tax breaks to large corporations and high income earners. They are instead pushing to force working people to pay more in the name of "structural reform."

Politics that curry favor with business circles for the purpose of receiving corporate donations won't improve people's living standards. The task now is to end all wasteful expenditures and force large corporations to shoulder burdens and responsibilities appropriate to their capacity. This is the Japanese Communist Party's position. Only by achieving a major JCP advance can we have a bright prospect regarding our living conditions and the country's fiscal reconstruction. -- Akahata, August 28, 2005