p_fund

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Political parties except JCP increase dependence on tax money and corporate donations

In Japan, more than 312 billion yen (about 2.8 billion U.S. dollars) in tax money has been distributed to all parties except the Japanese Communist Party, under the 1994 Political Party Subsidy Law.

The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications published this year's report detailing the use of tax money in the name of "political party subsidy" in the September 30 official gazette.

Under the law, political parties are qualified to receive state subsidies according to each party's vote share and number of Dietmembers if they have at least five Dietmembers and if its vote share in national elections is greater than two percent.

The JCP has been insisting that the state subsidies for political parties be abolished because using tax money for this scheme means forcing every citizen to contribute money without regard for their choice of party to support, a clear violation of political freedom. For this reason, the JCP has consistently refused to receive the subsidy.

The breakdown of subsidies each party has received in the last 10 years is as follows: the Liberal Democratic Party 147 billion yen (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars); the Democratic Party of Japan 61.9 billion yen (about 560 million U.S. dollars); the Komei Party 21 billion yen (about 190 million U.S. dollars); and the Social Democratic Party 26.6 billion yen (about 120 million U.S. dollars).

During these 10 years, these political parties have increased their financial dependency on the state subsidy.

About 31.7 billion yen (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) is used to fund political parties. The amount is larger than government spending on child care support, which is about 28.3 billion yen (about 260 million U.S. dollars).

Corporate contributions are on the increase
The pretext used for introducing the political party subsidy in 1995 was that the use of "neutral" public funds will help "political parties seek donations from individuals rather than from companies and other organizations like trade unions." However, during the last 10 years, political contributions from companies have been increasing. In fact, about 20 percent of the LDP's revenue comes from companies.

200 million yen to LDP from 15 Defense Agency contractors
Manufacturers of tanks, warships, aircraft, and other equipment for the Self-Defense Forces donated 196 million yen (about 1.8 million U.S. dollars) to the LDP in 2004. These companies are awarded about 70 percent of the "defense" contracts worth about 907 billion yen (about 8.3 billion U.S. dollars).

Big business, in particular the arms industries, has been urging the government and the ruling parties to increase overseas deployments of the Self-Defense Forces and ease the arms sales ban in violation of the Constitution in hopes to increase the government's pork-barrel spending. -- Akahata, September 30, 2005