Japan Press Weekly

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2011 January 26 - February 1 [POLITICS]

Security number system changes nature of social security from ‘rights’ to ‘reward’

Prime Minister Kan Naoto in his policy speech on January 24 called for the creation of a system that assigns a number to individual people’s records on social welfare benefits and on tax payments. The system, if introduced, will change the original nature of social welfare from “basic human rights” to “remuneration” in return for payments of taxes and public insurance premiums.

The social security number (SSN) system will manage the records of payments on taxes, public insurance premiums, and social welfare benefits in an integrated fashion. A government taskforce on the new system stated that it will submit to the Diet a bill on the system sometime in autumn.

The prime minister explained that he looks forward to the establishment of this system so that the government can provide fair, convenient services to the general public. However, this is an idea that will grant appropriate social welfare benefits only to those who pay appropriate taxes and public insurance premiums. The taskforce has also expressed an opinion to that effect.

The introduction of such a system has long been called for by the business world aiming for cuts in its share of contributions to social insurance premiums.

In the United States where the SSN system is already in place, the number of ID theft victims reaches about 200,000 a year. It is necessary to take the dangers of such a numbering system into careful consideration in regard to the protection of privacy.