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Citizens’ group petitions finance minister to draft budget putting priority on protecting people’s livelihoods Representatives of a labor union, a women’s organization, and a farmers’ organization on December 16 met with Finance Minister Fujii Hirohisa to issue a request in regard to the FY 2010 budget. In the meeting with Fujii, National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) President Daikoku Sakuji said, “It is urgently needed to improve the employment situation and to support small- and medium-sized enterprises. The government in its budget draft should allocate enough tax money to protect people’s livelihoods.” New Japan Women’s Association (Shinfujin) Chair Takada Kimiko urged Fujii to create a sufficient number of authorized day-care centers for children in order to reduce the number of children on the waiting lists to enter child care centers. A representative of a medical institutions’ organization demanded the abolition of the discriminatory medical service system for the elderly aged 75 and over, and a representative of an anti-poverty group demanded that the government continue the additional payment of benefits to single-parent households (only mothers with dependent children) receiving welfare assistance and reinstate additional benefits for the elderly in the livelihood protection program. In his response, Fujii said, “I quite agree with you.” The representatives also submitted a petition which includes the following points: reduce the military budget and allocate the tax money to support people’s livelihoods in various fields, including medical, social welfare, and education services; increase government spending on measures to solve employment issues, to improve support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and child-raring people, and to raise the food self-sufficiency rate; cut people’s burdens of costs for education; decrease the consumption tax rate; and revise the regressive taxation system which favors large corporations and the wealthy. |
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