衆議院予算委員会

(Oct. 7, 2008)The Yomiuri Shimbun
Deepen Diet debate on policy funding
衆院予算委　財源論争をさらに深めよ（10月7日付・読売社説）

With a House of Representatives election said to be around the corner, both the ruling and opposition parties have a responsibility to clarify the political issues at stake through debate in the Diet. In doing so, the most important point is that the sources of funding for their envisaged policy measures should be made clear.
　衆院選を控えて、与野党は国会論戦を通じ、“政策争点”を明確にする責任がある。その際、最も大事なのは、財源の裏打ちだ。財源論争を一層深めなければならない。

Discussion of the fiscal 2008 supplementary budget proposed by the government started Monday at the lower house Budget Committee. At the committee, Hiroyuki Sonoda, acting chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council, discussed the policy pledges of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan and the financial resources they have outlined to fund them, critically picking out what he saw as ambiguities.
　衆院予算委員会で、政府の２００８年度補正予算案に対する各党の質疑が始まった。
　自民党の園田博之・政調会長代理は、民主党の政権公約と財源確保策を俎上(そじょう)に載せ、そのあいまいさを追及した。

It is unusual for a member of the ruling coalition party to argue the rights and wrongs of the opposition party's policy pledges during deliberations on the government's budget. Sonoda took this unusual step, apparently believing that the effectiveness of the policy measures proposed by the DPJ should be called into question if the leading opposition party has the potential to take office after the next lower house election.
　政府予算案の質疑で、野党の政策の是非を論じるのは異例だ。次の衆院選で政権交代があり得るとすれば、民主党の政策の実効性が問われるべきだ、という立場からだろう。

===

Where is DPJ's 20.5 trillion yen?

DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa has announced policy pledges including the provision of subsidies to guarantee a certain level of income for farming households and the creation of a system to guarantee minimum pension payments.
　民主党の小沢代表は、農家への戸別所得補償や最低保障年金の創設などの公約を掲げている。

Ozawa insists that net expenditure of the general and special accounts, which totals 212 trillion yen per year, should be drastically restructured to release 20.5 trillion yen to fund his policies.
　その財源として、国の一般・特別会計の年間純支出計２１２兆円を抜本的に組み替え、２０・５兆円を捻出(ねんしゅつ)する、と主張している。

However, Sonoda criticized this assertion at the Budget Committee, arguing that it would be difficult to cut the net expenditure of the accounts because more than 80 percent of these funds have already been earmarked for various purposes such as the redemption of national bonds, social security payments and loans for local governments.
　これに対し、園田氏は、支出の８割以上は、国債償還や社会保障給付、地方への貸付金などに充てているため、「削減は難しい」と指摘した。

He claimed that Ozawa's policy measures were largely contradictory since the securing of the 20.5 trillion yen would require the slashing of expenditure on public works and education totaling 30 trillion yen.
　結局、公共事業や文教などに使っている３０兆円の政策経費を削って２０・５兆円を確保しなければならない計算となり、「大きな矛盾がある」と疑問を投げかけた。

Sonoda also criticized Ozawa's idea to tap into surplus funds held in special accounts--so-called buried treasure--to implement policy measures, saying that such surplus funds can never constitute a sustainable source of funds because they can only be spent once.
　特別会計の積立金など「埋蔵金」の活用についても、「１回使えば終わりで、恒常的財源にならない」と批判した。

===

DPJ slams wasteful spending

Following on from these comments, Akira Nagatsuma, deputy chairman of the DPJ Policy Research Committee, disagreed with Sonoda, stressing that government spending included a huge amount of tax money that was wasted by bureaucrats in such forms as subsidies with strings attached and unnecessary spending using the special account.
　これに関連し、民主党の長妻昭・政調会長代理は、政府支出には「ひも付き補助金や特別会計の無駄など官僚による膨大な税金の浪費がある」と反論した。

Nevertheless, it remains questionable whether administrative and fiscal reform alone can really generate the huge sum of 20.5 trillion yen while at the same time maintaining the functioning of national and local administrations.
　だが、国と地方の行政を機能させつつ、行財政改革で２０・５兆円もの財源を本当に得られるか。

As many local governments are suffering from financial difficulties, there is also concern that the DPJ's plan to reduce additional public works directly controlled by the central government could be detrimental to the development and maintenance of infrastructure in rural areas.
　地方財政が苦しい中、国直轄の公共事業をさらに縮減するという民主党案では、地方の社会資本整備などに支障はないか。

In the face of these questions raised by the ruling coalition, the DPJ must provide more detailed explanations.
　与党が示した疑問に対し、民主党は、より具体的な説明をしなければならないだろう。

Both the ruling and opposition parties have a responsibility to clarify the source of funds that will be used to raise government funding of the basic pension to 50 percent in the next fiscal year and to support a flat-rate tax cut included in the emergency economic package.
　政府・与党も、来年度から基礎年金の国庫負担割合を２分の１に引き上げるための財源や、緊急経済対策に盛り込んだ定額減税の財源の手当てについて、明確にする責任がある。

Such problems found in the policy pledges of the ruling and opposition parties will be major issues during the campaign for the next lower house election. We would like lawmakers to deepen discussion of these problems at the Budget Committee.
　こうした与野党の政策上の問題点は、衆院選でも主要な論点になる。各党は、予算委で掘り下げた議論を展開してもらいたい。

The holding of a one-on-one debate at the committee between Prime Minister Taro Aso and the DPJ president would also be of great value.
　麻生首相と小沢代表との党首討論を行うことも有益だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 7, 2008)
（2008年10月7日02時02分  読売新聞）