A dispute continued Friday among Cabinet members over who said what on the question of ways to increase local authorities' independence, with the public management minister criticizing the finance chief.

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa "is angry over a misunderstanding for which he has only himself to blame," Toranosuke Katayama, minister of public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications, said. "He is an elder member and should be on the side of settling issues, not complicating things."

Earlier in the week, Shiokawa accused economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka of distorting Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's comments on the contentious issue of ways to promote decentralization.

Shiokawa said Takenaka inaccurately quoted the prime minister when he told reporters Tuesday that transferring the role of collecting taxes to local authorities from the national government should spearhead the debate.

Takenaka, however, repeated Friday that the prime minister mentioned the issue in a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, which was attended by both Takenaka and Shiokawa.

"The prime minister said, 'We will transfer tax revenue sources' " to local governments from the national government, Takenaka said.

Decentralization is a touchy matter for both the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry and the Finance Ministry, which are sharply divided over ways to achieve that goal.

The public management ministry, which oversees local governments, wants tax collection responsibilities transferred swiftly to local authorities.

But the Finance Ministry, interested in ensuring stable tax revenues, wants to couple such a move with reductions in subsidies to local governments.

Shiokawa said he is willing to shift the role of tax collector to local authorities but only if they take on the added administrative duties.

"I think it would be good if the transfer of both administrative power and fiscal sources are carried out in parallel over a period of about three years," he said.