Japan Press Weekly

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2015 January 28 - February 3 [ECONOMY]

JCP Kokuta demands shift in economic policy

Japanese Communist Party representative Kokuta Keiji on January 27 took the rostrum on behalf of the JCP at the Lower House plenary session and began his interpellation by condemning the “Islamic State” for its barbarous act of kidnap and murder and urging the prime minister to do everything to ensure the release of the remaining Japanese hostage.

Kokuta used his question time mainly focusing on the economic issue, while referring to the government white paper attributing the present slowdown in consumer spending to the consumption tax hike as well as to the growing number of temporary workers.

The so-called mini white paper the Cabinet Office released on January 13 estimates that the reduction in real income after the consumption tax rate went up by 3% to 8% in April last year has decreased personal consumption by nearly one trillion yen. The white paper states that workers’ real wages have been decreasing for 17 consecutive months and that the number of non-regular workers has surpassed 20 million for the first time in history, widening the disparities among working people.

Kokuta demanded that the planned increase in the consumption tax rate to 10% to be implemented in April 2017 be cancelled as it will without doubt have a serious negative impact on the economy.

Kokuta said that smaller businesses are suffering directly from soaring energy and raw material costs due to the depreciation of the yen, and that many business owners complain about “Abenomics” causing the present recession.

The Abe government is intending to give generous tax breaks of 1.6 trillion yen to large corporations in the next two years while intending to levy another tax on small enterprises and even on companies experiencing difficulties based on their business size.

Kokuta stated a recovery of the national economy as well as local economies will be possible only when small- and medium-sized enterprises are allowed to revive. He suggested that the government opt for an approach to economic recovery by using a part of corporate internal reserves to assist workers and smaller businesses.

Kokuta criticized the prime minister for omitting to mention many important issues in his speech at the opening of the ordinary session of the Diet. He told Abe to not assume that the Liberal Democratic Party obtained a public mandate in the general election because the LDP received only 33% of total votes cast in proportional representation constituencies. Kokuta blamed the single-seat electoral system for making it possible for the largest party to occupy 80% of Diet seats with only 40% of total votes, and thus stated that the LDP’s majority position in the Diet is due to the flawed electoral system.

Past related articles:
> Japanese progressive journalists demand release of hostages [January 24, 2015]
> Shii condemns Islamic State for carrying out acts of appalling cruelty [January 26, 2015]
> Number of non-regular workers reaches 20 million [December 27, 2014]
> 25 million votes ‘wasted’ in general election under single-seat constituency system [December 24, 2014]