Japan Press Weekly

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2008 September 10 - 16 [WELFARE]

Shii speaks in Tokyo’s shopping district popular with the elderly

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on September 10 spoke in Tokyo’s Sugamo, a shopping district popular with the elderly.

People thronged Shii to pose questions or give him encouragement. In an off-the-cuff Q&A session, they discussed various topics, including pensions and healthcare insurance programs, causes of price increases, and resources for social welfare services.

Shii explained that the JCP has stood firm against the present healthcare insurance program since its prototype was launched in November 2000 because it contains a cruel mechanism that forces people to pay more for insurance premiums in the aging society.

He said, “Both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan are considering increasing the consumption tax rate ostensibly to secure funds for social welfare services. The JCP is insisting that large corporations and the wealthy should be asked to pay more in tax according to their abilities to pay and that the government should cut the military expenditure that amounts to five trillion yen each year.

The audience shouted, “Right on!” or “Go for it!” in response to Shii’s pledge that “the JCP’s advance will provide the strongest power to help get rid of the current cold-blooded policies.”

From the audience, 88-year-old Ueda Mari asked Shii to comment on the recent revelation of imported rice contaminated with a toxic substance being used to produce Japanese crackers and alcoholic drinks.

Shii replied, “The LDP policy of increasing imports of cheap foreign goods is no longer tenable at a time when Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate is as low as 40 percent. The best way to ensure the country’s food safety is to improve the self-sufficiency rate by taking far-reaching measures to assist Japanese family farmers and stop the unlimited opening of the domestic market to foreign goods.”

Suzuki Kohei, 55, said, “I am afraid large corporations will leave Japan if they are asked to pay more in corporate taxes.”

Shii responded by saying, “Large corporations in Japan pay less corporate taxes and social insurance premiums than European companies, about 60 percent that of French and 80 percent of German enterprises. Toyota Motor in France, for example, pays the same rate of tax as other French firms. Why cannot it do so in Japan? It is a matter of course for companies earning lots of money to share appropriate burdens.” The audience gave a big nod to Shii.