| 8 November 2002 |
| Democratic Party of Japan Economic Revitalization Plan (Key points) |
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For promoting entrepreneurship, creating jobs and improving the quality of people's lives
I. Basic idea
Japan is in a state of "economic emergency" as a result of the Liberal Democratic Party's failure of governance for more than a decade and the absence of effective economic measures by the current Koizumi administration. To overcome the present crisis, we will robustly implement anti-deflation measures and, at the same time, create jobs and realize industrial revitalization by generating new demand, promoting entrepreneurship and improving the quality of people's lives.
II. Emergency measures to avoid crisis
We will not impose additional burdens on people, but will eliminate wasteful allocation of public funds in the current budget to the utmost limit and immediately draft a supplementary budget of about 1.5 to 2 trillion yen centering on the following measures:
1) Employment policy
We will cancel inefficient public works projects and protect the lives of people. We will also extend the period of unemployment insurance payments, help develop the careers and vocational skills of those seeking jobs and alleviate the burden on the unemployed for health insurance premiums, home mortgages and rents. We will inject public funds to local labor markets to dramatically increase the number of temporary jobs.
We will expand and stabilize employment opportunities for those who are under extremely tight financial situations, such as single mothers and people with disabilities.
2) Measures to support small- and medium-sized businesses
We will strongly support small- and medium-sized businesses facing the reluctance to lend money and/or the inappropriate collection of funds by financial institutions (the so-called "credit crunch"). We will temporarily reinstate the special credit guarantee system, enact the Financial Assessment Act and promote the availability of government-run financial institutions.
Recognizing that entrepreneurship is the chief source of revitalization of our economy, we will achieve the target of "one million new companies" to be established by exempting new businesses from paying corporate tax and setting up a "special loan" system for entrepreneurs.
3) Taxation
We will introduce a "tax break for interest payments", making interest payments on housing loans and education loans, among others, deductible from income. We will also provide tax favors to compensate losses incurred by selling properties and a tax incentive for nurturing NPOs to create a better society. We will implement a zero tax policy on capital gains through stock dealings for a limited period of time.
As for bad loans, we will clean them up without delay by carrying out the DPJ Final Financial Reconstruction Plan. Under the government's "Financial Revitalization Program", which is poles apart from the DPJ plan, we cannot expect swift disposal of nonperforming loans.
III. For revitalizing the national economy and improving the quality of people's lives
There exists the great potential for new demand that could improve the quality of people's lives. It is quite possible to nurture industries aimed at fulfilling such demand and create jobs by doing so. The DPJ will facilitate its comprehensive policy designed to create a civil society through nurturing NPOs, realize comfortable homes and towns that are desirable to live in, build a society where everyone can live safely, alleviate the burden of child rearing and education costs, conserve the environment and put in place an economic structure in which private companies can prosper as fully dynamic entities. We will allocate government resources to such priority areas. Through these, we will achieve the reconstruction of the national economy and improve the quality of people's lives. |
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