general_election3

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Stop deceiving the public: Shii analyzes policy debates

Shii Kazuo, Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee chair, on September 1 criticized the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party concerning key issues in the general election.

Speaking at a news conference in Niigata, where he was on a stumping tour for JCP candidates, Shii characterized the policy debates in the early stage regarding three points of contention:

Postal privatization

The true color of the postal privatization scheme has been revealed.

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro is deceiving the public on two points.

One is that he tries to present the public with the merit of postal privatization scheme by stating that it can reduce the number of "public service employees" and that tax can be collected from the privatized entity for postal services. He states this knowing that no tax money is being used at present for postal services and Japan Post now turns over half of its profits to the state.

The other is that Mr. Koizumi gives the public a rosy picture of the privatization scheme by falsely placing the blame for his own wrong policies regarding the economy, social services, and foreign relations, on the post office.

He can offer no more than these arguments to justify his policy of privatizing the postal services because the true purpose of the privatization is to benefit Japanese and U.S. major banks at the cost of the general public.

The Democratic Party is calling for the upper limits on personal postal savings to be reduced by half, also for the same purpose of serving the needs of the business sector.

The JCP opposition to postal privatization from the viewpoint of defending the interests of the general public is more important than ever.

Tax increase

The Liberal Democratic, Komei and Democratic parties have tried hard to prevent their call for tax increases from being known to the public.

(Consumption tax)

Both LDP Secretary General Takebe Tsutomu and DPJ President Okada Katsuya have clearly stated that their parties are contemplating raising the consumption tax rate.

(Income tax on salaried workers)

Both the LDP and the DPJ call for the need to review income tax deductions for salaried workers, which means a seizable tax increase for workers.

The JCP is adamantly opposed to any tax increases that force working people to pay more. If they say that the need is to cover shortfalls in the budget, it is necessary to place larger tax burdens on large corporations that are making larger profits than they did even during the period of the bubble economy.

Constitution

Political parties in their election campaigns must not sidestep debating the issue of the Constitution.

Both the LDP and the DPJ in their manifesto make it clear that they will draw up drafts of a revised Constitution. They call for a constitutional change to establish "self-defense armed forces" that will mean turning Japan into a country that can fight wars abroad in cooperation with the United States. But these parties are deliberately evading this issue in their election campaigns.

The JCP stands firmly for the defense of Article 9 in order for Japan to earn the trust of other countries in Asia and the rest of the world. We believe it necessary for parties in the election campaign to publicly discuss this issue. -- Akahata, September 2, 2005