Opposition parties should compromise on gasoline tax bill
(From The Japan Times April 5 issue)

ガソリン暫定税、野党は歩み寄りを

Because the Diet failed to enact the fiscal 2008 tax-code bill on and before March 31, gasoline prices automatically went down April 1 as the period for the "temporarily" raised gasoline tax rate expired. The bill, in part, maintains the surcharges for the gasoline and other road-related taxes.

The Upper House, controlled by the opposition, had delayed interpellation on the bill for more than a month. The ruling camp plans to enact the bill by taking a second vote in the Lower House with a two-thirds majority in late April.

But if this happens, the system under which revenues from the road-related taxes are used exclusively to fund road-related projects will be revived. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan calls for freeing up the tax revenues so the money can be used for general purposes. It also calls for immediately scrapping the surcharges. The government has a 10-year, ¥59 trillion road construction plan. The DPJ pointed out that the plan is not based on the latest traffic volume projections.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on March 27 made a bold proposal to let road-related tax revenues be used for general purposes from fiscal 2009 and to scale down the 10-year plan to a five-year plan. But he opposed lowering the gasoline tax rates to normal.

Mr. Fukuda's proposal has not received the endorsement of the Liberal Democratic Party, and "road tribe" LDP Diet members oppose it. Given that even in the DPJ some lawmakers view Mr. Fukuda's proposal in a positive light, the prime minister should make efforts to gain the LDP's endorsement.

DPJ chief Ichiro Ozawa turned down Mr. Fukuda's proposal because it doesn't scrap the "temporary" gasoline tax hike. But given that the proposal will allow the use of road-related tax revenue for general purposes, Mr. Ozawa should exert leadership so that a constructive compromise can be reached in the Diet.

歳入関連法案の採決が3月31日までに行われず、ガソリン税の「暫定」税率が失効したことから、ガソリン価格は4月1日から自動的に値下げとなった。これは野党が過半数を占める参議院で暫定税率延長法案の審議が遅れたためだ。与党は4月下旬、与党が3分の2を占める衆議院で最議決権を行使するつもりだ。

だが、それが実現すれば道路特定財源は相変わらず道路整備にしか使えない。民主党は、これを一般財源化することと、暫定税即時撤廃を要求している。

福田康夫首相は3月27日、道路特定財源を2009年から一般財源化するという大胆な新提案を行った。ただし暫定税率廃止には応じられないとした。民主党の小沢一郎代表は暫定税率廃止を受け入れないこの提案を拒否したが、提案が道路特定財源の一般財源化を認めている以上、建設的な歩み寄りを見せるべきだろう。