March 25, 2010
The FY 2010 budget was passed through the Diet on March 24 by the Democratic Party of Japan, Social Democratic Party, and People’s New Party. The Japanese Communist, Liberal Democratic, and Komei parties voted against.
In the discussion prior to the vote, Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors Daimon Mikishi said, “In the House of Representatives general election last summer, voters called for a drastic change from the ‘structural reform’ policy, which has increased poverty and social gaps. However, the new government’s budget proposal fails to respond to their demands.”
Daimon criticized the following three points:
1. In addition to postponing the abolition of the medical insurance system for the elderly aged 75 and older, the government has failed to take measures to reduce their premiums and eradicate the “beneficiary-pays principle” under the law to assist the “self-support” of the disabled.
2. Concerning the drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law, although the government calls for a ban on the use of temporary workers in the manufacturing sector in principle, temporary workers who are employed by a staffing agency are exempted from the ban. Another loophole is that although the government attempts to ban the use of on-call temporary workers, companies will be allowed to use them to work in “26 special job categories.”
3. The government maintains the huge military budget and generous tax exemptions for major corporations and the wealthy. It is also considering raising the consumption tax rate in the near future.
The approved 2010 budget is 92.3 trillion yen, the largest amount ever. The Hatoyama Cabinet has repeatedly called for cuts in the wasteful use of tax money in order to create financial resources. However, the budget depends on 44 trillion yen of government bonds and nearly 9 trillion yen of “reserve funds”.
Military expenditures increased by 16.2 billion yen from the last fiscal year. Moreover, 47.2 billion yen was allocated to the construction of U.S. facilities in Guam, 40 percent more than allocated last year.
It abolished the former government’s policy of the annual 220 billion yen cut in budget growth in social services, but stopped short of changing direction to improve medical, nursing care, and welfare services, which had been all adversely revised under the former government of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.
In the agricultural field, while adopting a measure to guarantee rice producers’ incomes, the Hatoyama Cabinet has not proposed ways to address the issue of reduction of prices of agricultural products. Not only that, it calls for promotion of trade liberalization by concluding the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with other countries.
- Akahata, March 25, 2010
Daimon criticized the following three points:
1. In addition to postponing the abolition of the medical insurance system for the elderly aged 75 and older, the government has failed to take measures to reduce their premiums and eradicate the “beneficiary-pays principle” under the law to assist the “self-support” of the disabled.
2. Concerning the drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law, although the government calls for a ban on the use of temporary workers in the manufacturing sector in principle, temporary workers who are employed by a staffing agency are exempted from the ban. Another loophole is that although the government attempts to ban the use of on-call temporary workers, companies will be allowed to use them to work in “26 special job categories.”
3. The government maintains the huge military budget and generous tax exemptions for major corporations and the wealthy. It is also considering raising the consumption tax rate in the near future.
The approved 2010 budget is 92.3 trillion yen, the largest amount ever. The Hatoyama Cabinet has repeatedly called for cuts in the wasteful use of tax money in order to create financial resources. However, the budget depends on 44 trillion yen of government bonds and nearly 9 trillion yen of “reserve funds”.
Military expenditures increased by 16.2 billion yen from the last fiscal year. Moreover, 47.2 billion yen was allocated to the construction of U.S. facilities in Guam, 40 percent more than allocated last year.
It abolished the former government’s policy of the annual 220 billion yen cut in budget growth in social services, but stopped short of changing direction to improve medical, nursing care, and welfare services, which had been all adversely revised under the former government of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.
In the agricultural field, while adopting a measure to guarantee rice producers’ incomes, the Hatoyama Cabinet has not proposed ways to address the issue of reduction of prices of agricultural products. Not only that, it calls for promotion of trade liberalization by concluding the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with other countries.
- Akahata, March 25, 2010
