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172287
Thu, 03/31/2011 - 18:38
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https://oananews.org//node/172287
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Vice finance minister eyes creating fund for quake-relief work
TOKYO (Kyodo) - The government should consider setting up a fund that would help secure money for reconstruction work after the March 11 earthquake in Japan, Senior Vice Finance Minister Mitsuru Sakurai said Thursday, while suggesting the pool of money could be financed by higher taxes.
The remarks came as the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan is preparing a supplementary budget of more than 2 trillion yen ($24.14 billion) for the year starting Friday. Some lawmakers say the emergency spending must be followed by a second and third batch as the gravity of the damage is revealed, and that the total spending could amount to over 10 trillion yen.
Both chambers of the Diet unanimously voted for the passage of a bill to cut the salaries of all parliamentarians by 3 million yen each in the six months through September. It will create some 2.1 billion yen to finance rebuilding efforts in the areas destroyed by the quake and ensuing tsunami.
Sakurai told reporters, ''If we have a fund with 10 trillion yen, for example, then we could make a swift response to various requests,'' underlining this might be better than crafting a number of extra budgets.
As for possible sources of the fund, he suggested the government might ask the public to accept tax hikes.
The Diet also passed a bill to allow Kan to maintain his Democratic Party of Japan's key policy of monthly childe allowances. The move extended the current program, which pays 13,000 yen per month to children aged under 15, for six month through September.
The House of Councillors, controlled by the opposition camp, voted for the bill with some lawmakers from the camp supporting the DPJ-led coalition, citing the possible damage on households in case the program expires on Thursday.
The support came as Kan has dropped another bill that would have upgraded the program by increasing the allowances to 20,000 yen only for children under 3 years old, an attempt fiercely criticized by opposition parties.
Jun Azumi, the DPJ's Diet affairs chief, said at a meeting with his counterparts from the opposition bloc that the funds freed up by giving up the upgrading -- some 210 billion yen -- will be spent for extra budgets.
Separately, a DPJ panel studying tax reforms compiled a set of proposals to support the victims of the quake, including refunding the income tax they paid. The ruling party will draw up a bill to that end and submit it for Diet deliberations within April, its members said.
The remarks came as the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan is preparing a supplementary budget of more than 2 trillion yen ($24.14 billion) for the year starting Friday. Some lawmakers say the emergency spending must be followed by a second and third batch as the gravity of the damage is revealed, and that the total spending could amount to over 10 trillion yen.
Both chambers of the Diet unanimously voted for the passage of a bill to cut the salaries of all parliamentarians by 3 million yen each in the six months through September. It will create some 2.1 billion yen to finance rebuilding efforts in the areas destroyed by the quake and ensuing tsunami.
Sakurai told reporters, ''If we have a fund with 10 trillion yen, for example, then we could make a swift response to various requests,'' underlining this might be better than crafting a number of extra budgets.
As for possible sources of the fund, he suggested the government might ask the public to accept tax hikes.
The Diet also passed a bill to allow Kan to maintain his Democratic Party of Japan's key policy of monthly childe allowances. The move extended the current program, which pays 13,000 yen per month to children aged under 15, for six month through September.
The House of Councillors, controlled by the opposition camp, voted for the bill with some lawmakers from the camp supporting the DPJ-led coalition, citing the possible damage on households in case the program expires on Thursday.
The support came as Kan has dropped another bill that would have upgraded the program by increasing the allowances to 20,000 yen only for children under 3 years old, an attempt fiercely criticized by opposition parties.
Jun Azumi, the DPJ's Diet affairs chief, said at a meeting with his counterparts from the opposition bloc that the funds freed up by giving up the upgrading -- some 210 billion yen -- will be spent for extra budgets.
Separately, a DPJ panel studying tax reforms compiled a set of proposals to support the victims of the quake, including refunding the income tax they paid. The ruling party will draw up a bill to that end and submit it for Diet deliberations within April, its members said.
