Japan Press Weekly

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2012 March 7 - 13 [POLITICS]

Next budget funded by tax hike and cuts in welfare spending

The House of Representatives on March 8 passed the FY 2012 budget draft funded by a tax hike and debts through the plenary session. The Japanese Communist Party voted against the draft.

At a prior budget committee meeting, JCP representative Kasai Akira submitted a motion to recompile the budget draft of \ 90.33 trillion. However, the motion was rejected.

Kasai took the floor in opposition to the budget draft, pointing out that an increase in the consumption tax will deal a severe blow to many people’s livelihoods which will lead to a further downturn in the country’s economy and finance.

He argued that to secure the resources needed for social welfare programs, the government should terminate the preferential securities tax, cancel additional tax breaks for large corporations, and review the present unfair tax system which primarily favors the rich and large corporations.

Kasai criticized the planned cutbacks in many social welfare programs such as reduced pension benefits, heavier payments for nursing-care and insurance premiums imposed on the elderly, and the abolition of child-rearing allowances.

After the passage of the draft, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo stated, “It is the worst ever draft budget. It unifies the reduction of social services and imposition of a higher tax on the general public, the so-called ‘integrated reform’.”