道しるべ

新型コロナ感染対策を急げ
21年度の政府予算案

2021/01/12
 21年度政府一般会計予算案は、20年度第3次補正案と一体の15カ月で計130兆円に迫る。コロナ対策を謳うが、実際にはデジタル化・脱炭素など経済構造転換への財政支出が多く並ぶ。

 20年度第3次補正案での追加歳出額は21兆8353億円に上る。だがコロナ感染対策は4兆3581億円のみで、大半はポストコロナの経済構造転換のため。補正予算は「緊要な経費」(財政法)のためにあり、ポストコロナの計上は財政法に反する。

 また、補正案は脱炭素化の研究支援基金として2兆円を計上した。安易な基金創設は、単年度を旨とする財政民主主義を形骸化させる。さらに新小型原発開発にも使われる大問題を含んでいる。


道しるべ英訳↓

No. 1193 Draft Budget for Fiscal 2021

The draft budget of the general account for the fiscal 2021 is estimated as 130 trillion Yen, a total for 15 months that includes the third-round of supplementary budget of the fiscal 2020. The government emphasizes measures to cope with the pandemic, but, practically, tax money is to be spent steadily on the digitalization programs and carbon neutral policies, which are main locomotive power to change the economic structure of the country.

TAKE MEASURES IMMEDIATELY TO COPE WITH PANDEMIC!

An additional sum of the third-round supplementary budget of the fiscal 2020 counts 21.8353 trillion Yen. The amount allocated, however, to the policies to tackle the epidemic disaster is only 4.3581 trillion Yen, and the rest of tax money will be appropriated to overhaul the nation’s economic structure to respond to the post-corona era. The supplementary budget is stipulated as ‘urgently needed expenditure’ (the Finance Act), and therefore, the use to take care of the post-corona conditions violates the law.

The supplementary budget in question allocates 2 trillion Yen to a fund to conduct researches on the carbon neutral initiative. An easy establishment of a fund undermines financial democracy based on single fiscal year as a unit. In addition, the fund is applied to development of small-sized nuclear power generation units, which poses a serious question.

Imposing tax on people

The original draft plan for the fiscal 2021 counted 106.6097 trillion Yen, exceeding 100 trillion Yen for three consecutive years. The revenue is sustained by fresh issues of government bonds, which amounts 43.5970 trillion Yen, and the consumption tax, which totals 20.2840 trillion Yen. A money flow from the consumption tax is the largest revenue item of the Fiscal 2020, which surpasses more than twice as much as the corporate tax, approximately 9 trillion Yen. Emerges taxation as a routine based on levying on the mass of people.

Our urgent duty is to reduce the rate of consumption tax in addition to the demand for comprehensive steps to cope with the pandemic.

Setting up Digital Agency

The Suga government will establish the Digital Agency in May in order that the country’s management may be entirely digitalized. Its budget is estimated as 36.8 billion Yen, and the agency will control over the budgets of all the ministries and agencies amounting 300 billion Yen allocated to the information systems. That means the new agency will put all government data into a single channel. The third-round supplementary budget contains approximately 180 billion Yen to unify documentation forms of all municipalities of the country.

The government led by Premier Suga is going to combine the unification of administrative records with the controversial My Number registration system, hurrying up in building a basis for digitalized capitalist development. It wants to recuperate the delay in the fourth-round industrial revolution so that Japan-based global enterprises may secure international competitiveness.

To obtain supreme military technologies

The original budget allocated to the Ministry of Defense was 5.3422 trillion Yen, which has been breaking the largest record for seven consecutive years. The draft contains 33.5 billion Yen to be spent on improvement of capabilities of surface-to-vessel guided missiles, which eventually links with obtaining strength to attack bases of adversaries.

A startling feature lies in fostering investment efforts in cutting-edge technologies; the government plans to set up a ‘research institute for next-generation military equipment’ and newly place ‘officers in charge of sophisticated technology strategy’.

It is urgently necessary for us to stop the government ambition of military build-up.

As for measures to tackle the corona virus catastrophe, the government appropriated a 5 trillion Yen of reserve fund in the original draft, and then has allocated in total 11.5 trillion Yen in the first and second rounds of supplementary budget plans for emergency use. But a sum of 4.6 trillions has not yet actually been spent on because its objective is not set forth.

The government should implement immediately measures to protect lives of people and their livelihood: it should purchase and distribute to municipalities full-automatic PCR Test Equipment and ECMO cars (Intensive-Care-Unit cars).



January 12, 2021


大衆課税の構造化

 21年度当初予算案は、106兆6097億円と3年連続で100兆円を上回った。歳入を支えるのが国債43兆5970億円の新規発行と消費税税収の20兆2840億円。消費税収は20年度から最大税目となり、法人税約9兆円の2倍を超える。大衆消費課税を基幹とする税収が構造化した。

 コロナ対策を含め、消費税率引下げが喫緊の課題だ。

デジタル庁を設置

 総デジタル化に向け、菅政権は5月にデジタル庁を発足させる。予算は368億円だが、全省庁の情報システム予算約3千億円を管理する。政府情報の標準化・一元化である。自治体の仕様統一にも、3次補正で支援基金など約1800億円を組んだ。

 菅政権は、これらにマイナンバー徹底を組み合わせ、デジタル資本主義化の基盤整備を急いでいる。第4次産業革命の出遅れを挽回し、日本のグローバル企業の国際競争力を支えるためである。

先端軍事力の獲得

 防衛省当初予算案は5兆3422億円で、7年連続で過去最大を記録した。敵基地攻撃能力保持に繋がる地対艦誘導弾性能向上に335億円を盛り込んだ。

 大きな特徴は、最先端技術への重点投資を強めること。「次世代装備研究所」を創設し、「先進技術戦略官」を新設する。今こそ軍事増強に歯止めが必要だ。

 当初予算案でコロナ感染対策は、予備費5兆円を計上。臨機対応のコロナ予備費は、1次・2次補正で11兆5千億円組んだが、4兆6千億円が使途未定で、執行も遅れている。全自動PCR検査装置やエクモカー(走るICU)を政府購入し各地に配置するなど、生命と生活を守る施策を早急に実施すべきである。