Japan Press Weekly

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2007 September 12 - 18 TOP3 [POLITICS]

All parties except JCP depend on corporate donations and tax money: 2006 political funds reports

The Internal Affairs Ministry on September 14 released the 2006 political funds reports of political parties and organizations, revealing the opaqueness of the “politics and money” problem that contributed to the downfall of the Abe government, and how those parties depend largely on corporate and organizational donations as well as the government subsidies to political parties.

Despite strong public criticism, 10 Dietmembers, including Education Minister Ibuki Bunmei (Liberal Democratic Party), still reported more than 10 million yen of office expenses while using the rent-free Dietmembers’ Office Building as the main offices of their fund management organizations.

For almost all parties, except the Japanese Communist Party, more than half of their headquarters’ revenues come from donations by corporations and organizations as well as the government subsidies.

Such contributions amounted to three billion yen (11.4 percent of its total revenue) for the LDP and 82 million yen (0.8 percent) for the Democratic Party of Japan.

In government subsidy, the LDP received 16.8 billion yen (64.4 percent of its total revenue), and the Democratic Party 10.5 billion yen (83.8 percent).

Corporate and organizational donations and government subsidies have made political parties degenerate into entities financially separated from the public and led them into corruption as shown in the office expenses scandals.

In contrast, the JCP has never received corporate and organizational donations and financially depends on the public. Its revenue comes from party dues, donations from private individuals, and the sale of its organ papers and books.