Political funds mirror political parties

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Political funds mirror political parties
Akahata editorial (excerpt)

An annual report on political funds for FY 2005 that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released on September 8 clearly illustrates the difference between the Japanese Communist Party which financially depends on party dues, subscription fees for its newspaper Akahata, and donations by individuals, and the other parties that depend on government subsidies and donations by corporations and organizations, the two main sources of political corruption.

The government subsidies shared by the political parties other than the JCP accounted for an abnormally large portion of the income of these national parties: 60 percent for the Liberal Democratic Party, 84 percent for the Democratic Party, and 50 percent for the Social Democratic Party.

The government subsidy system is a scheme to distribute tax money of more than 31.7 billion yen (250 yen per capita) to political parties, irrespective of tax payers' party affiliation. This is quite different from individual donations made by people's own will.

Given the fact that the individual donations the LDP collected in 2005 accounted for 1.3 percent of its income and that the DP collected only 27,000 yen from such donations, it is fair to say that these parties have given up on efforts to establish sound fiscal operations rooted in a wide range of people.

Corporate and organizational donations strongly influence activities of these parties.

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) provides its member companies with "report cards" rating the LDP and the DP policies as a reference to decide the amount of donations based on Keidanren's policy priorities, including the stance on constitutional revision, corporate tax reductions, and consumption tax increases. This is nothing but a "buyout" of political parties.

Nippon Keidanren member companies in 2005 increased their donations to the LDP by 39 million yen and to the DP by 42 million yen compared to the previous year. The two parties compete with each other to benefit business circles in order to receive more corporate donations.

Although a majority of Japanese people are opposing the revision of Article 9 of the Constitution, representatives intending to make Japan "a nation to fight war abroad" occupy 90 percent of the Diet seats. When it comes to tax "reform," they only talk about the reduction of the corporate tax and shifting the burdens onto the public by increasing the consumption tax rate under the pretext of increasing large corporations' competitiveness. The underlying cause of such extraordinary politics is the "money hunting" by these political parties, and using money provided by business circles.

The JCP has firmly refused to receive corporate and organizational donations, which distort politics, as well as the government subsidy, which is unconstitutional since it obliges the public to donate to political parties in disregard of their political stance. The JCP always looks to the public and tries to establish its fiscal operations in the grass-roots level ties with the public. Unless a party takes the high-road as a political party, it cannot lead to a new politics.
- Akahata, September 8, 2006