Japan's expressway tolls — long criticized as being much higher than in other advanced economies — in recent years have been discounted with the support of government subsidies that fluctuated with the changes in administration and the government's fiscal condition.
As the discounts are set to be scaled back in April when the state budget allocation for toll reduction dries up, the current scheme that heavily relies on taxpayer money should be reviewed and replaced with a more sustainable one.
After the former Japan Public Highway Corp. was privatized into three expressway operators (West, Central and East Nippon Expressway companies) and three other expressway public corporations each became private operators in October 2005, the government began using public funds to subsidize toll discounts, initially as part of a stimulus package to fend off the impact of global recession following the 2008 Lehman Brothers shock. The then Liberal Democratic Party-led administration introduced in March 2009 a discount that kept the maximum toll at ¥1,000 on weekends and national holidays.