Jun 25, 2012

Tasks for the extended Diet session

Because of a deal between the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, bills incorporating Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s plan to raise the consumption tax are likely to be passed by the end of the current Diet session, ...

Jun 17, 2012

Consensus on risky tax raise

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the two main opposition parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, on Friday reached a basic agreement on raising the consumption tax. Although the tax raise is coupled with reform of the social security system, the agreement ...

May 29, 2012

Time for the Diet to act

There remains less than a month before the current Diet session is scheduled to end on June 21. Deliberations have started in a Lower House special committee on the tax and social welfare reform. Among the bills before the committee are two related to ...

May 18, 2012

Helping people help NPOs

Nonprofit organizations play important roles in such areas as education, social welfare, public health and medical services and environmental protection in communities; after the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, they have also been active in disaster relief efforts. A revised NPO law went into force ...

Apr 30, 2012

Sorting out bills for careful debate

A special committee was set up in the Lower House on April 26 to mainly discuss tax and social welfare reform bills, including a bill to raise the consumption tax. The political parties should have careful discussions in the committee because the bills will ...

Mar 31, 2012

Approach tax hike with caution

The Noda Cabinet on Friday endorsed and submitted to the Diet a bill aimed at raising the consumption tax from the current 5 percent to 8 percent from April in 2014 and to 10 percent from October 2015. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is so ...

Feb 15, 2012

Disability program reveals U.S. budget quagmire

by Robert J. Samuelson

Social Security’s disability program is a political quagmire — and a metaphor for why federal spending and budget deficits are so difficult to control. The numbers are too big; the details, too complicated; and the choices, when faced, too wrenching. President Barack Obama’s new ...

Jan 26, 2012

Tax plan ill-timed and ill-thought

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda made a policy speech before the Diet on Tuesday as it started a regular session for 2012. His main theme was a raise of the consumption tax and he called on opposition parties to take part in consultations on the ...