On December 24, DPJ Policy Research Committee Chair Mitsuru Sakurai issued the following comment regarding the government budget for fiscal 2014.

This is a budget that ignores fiscal reconstruction. If the supplementary budget that has already been approved is included, the total is more than 101 trillion yen, and I would have to characterize it as LDP-style pork-barrel spending. Moreover, despite the fact that tax revenues are projected to increase by 4.5 trillion yen due to the consumption tax increase, the decrease in the amount of government bonds issuances is limited to 1.6 trillion yen, and efforts toward restoring fiscal health are totally inadequate.

*There is a big spurge on public works projects (spending up 12.9% compared with the previous year), while household budgets are overburdened. Measures to offset consumption tax increases, whether it be taxes on automobiles or payments to low income households, seem perfunctory. The date for abolishing the special restoration surtax on corporation tax has been brought forward, benefitting just a handful of profit-making large corporations, while on the other hand the surtax on individual incomes remains unchanged. This is a budget typical of the Abe administration, which is kind to big business and coldshoulders the general public.

*The pledge “not one penny of consumption tax revenues shall be used for anything other than social security” has been broken. The increased revenues from consumption tax amount to 4.5 trillion yen on a national base, but enhancements to social security are only 220 billion yen. The public will have no alternative but to believe that this is a tax increase for the sake of public works.

*In addition to social security, education and agriculture have also been slighted. The budget for the system providing income support to individual farming households has been drastically reduced, and income caps have been introduced into the scheme to make high school tuition free. Such moves serve only to increase the concerns the Japanese people feel about their daily lives. It is blatantly obvious that the Abe administration shows little regard for increasing Japan’s food self-sufficiency ratio and nurturing human resources.

*The economic policies of the Abe administration show an over-reliance on monetary and fiscal policy and simply serve to further increase future risk. Looking at the budget compilation and tax system revision as a whole, the contents are kind to big business and severe on individual households, and we are concerned that they will have a negative impact both on people’s lives and on the economy.