ニュース 2011/11/08 Three parties reach formal agreement on 25 year redemption period for reconstruction bonds On November 8, the secretaries general of the DPJ, LDP and Komeito held a meeting inside the Diet building. They discussed the financial resources for funding the reconstruction projects following the Great East Japan Earthquake included in the third supplementary budget for 2011, and formally agreed to extend the redemption period for reconstruction bonds from 10 years, as suggested in the original government proposal, to 25 years. Furthermore, they confirmed their intention of enacting budget related legislation, including legislation for securing financial resources for reconstruction, by the end of November. Following the meeting, Koshiishi explained that future procedures, including legislative revision that will be necessary to change the redemption period, will be dealt with in discussions between the policy research chiefs of each party, including the Chair of the DPJ Policy Research Committee. Furthermore, with regard to calls from the LDP and Komeito, whose stance is that even if reconstruction related expenses were to increase in the future there should not be any further tax increases, he stated that “Additional tax increases would place a burden on the Japanese people and so [any such additional expenses] should be funded by non-tax revenues and cuts in expenditure.” However, he also referred to the need to speedily enact the postal services reform legislation, stating, “That is the very reason why there is talk of [raising the] tobacco tax and [selling] Japan Post shares.”