“I just want people’s lives to improve.” Public questionnaires answered by candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election have been published.
*Proactive Fiscal Local Council Federation*
Press release: September 15, 2024
**
“I just want people’s lives to improve.” Public questionnaires answered by candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election have been published.
*The League of Local Legislators, which seeks policies to enrich people’s lives and revive the economy, asked candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election five questions, and so far two candidates have responded. *
In order to enrich people’s lives and revive the economy, the nonpartisan parliamentary group “Local Parliamentarians Promoting Proactive Fiscal Policy” (co-representative: Hirose Omi, Member of Sado City Council, Niigata Prefecture, (163 members) has submitted an open questionnaire to all nine candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election to be counted on Friday, September 27, 2020, and currently only two candidates have been selected. Since we have received your responses, we will publish them as attached. *In the future, when we receive responses to the public questionnaire, we will make them public on our association’s website and SNS.
We would like to thank the three candidates (Mr. Sanae Takaichi and Mr. Shigeru Ishiba (in order of submission)) for taking the time out of their busy schedules to respond to the five questions that we must face in order to improve people’s lives and the Japanese economy. Thank you very much.
The purpose of this public questionnaire is to widely inform party members and the public about what policies each candidate will pursue, and to have them use it as a reference when voting in this
presidential election and future national elections. .
In addition, we plan to similarly issue open questionnaires to candidates for the New Komeito Party representative election announced on September 18th.
*Responses to public questionnaire for Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates*
*Displayed in order of candidacy notification
Question 1: Many people are struggling to make ends meet due to soaring prices and increases in the national burden of social insurance premiums and taxes, and many people are calling for the abolition or reduction of the highly regressive consumption tax. If you became prime minister, what percentage would you like the consumption tax to be?
Answer: %
Question 2: The Ministry of Finance’s website states that “A default on government bonds denominated in their own currencies by developed countries such as Japan and the United States is unlikely.” However, it is believed that an increase in the outstanding amount of government bonds issued could lead to a fiscal collapse. Are you there?
Answer: 1.YES 2.NO 3.Other ( )
Question 3: For food security, it is necessary to ensure stable income for farmers. Do you think it is necessary to create direct payments to farmers, as is the case in many developed countries?
Answer: 1.YES 2.NO 3.Other ( )
Question 4: As a result of having each local government compete in child-rearing policies, regional disparities have arisen. Do you think it is necessary for the government to take full responsibility for making childcare costs such as school fees, school lunches, and medical expenses free of charge, and to make it a uniform childcare policy nationwide?
Answer: 1.YES 2.NO 3.Other ( )
Question 5: The speed of recovery and reconstruction following the Noto Peninsula earthquake was extremely slow, with some residents saying that they had been abandoned because it was a depopulated area. Do you think it is necessary to urgently secure a large supplementary budget and develop infrastructure equivalent to that before the disaster?
Answer: 1.YES 2.NO 3.Other ( )
* What is the Local Parliamentary Federation that promotes proactive fiscal policy? *
We are a bipartisan group of local legislators (prefectural, ward, town, and village representatives) working to achieve the Japanese government’s abolition of consumption tax and large-scale fiscal spending, enrich the lives of Japanese people, and revive the Japanese economy. ) is an organization.
The influence of Japanese companies, which dominated the world until 30 years ago, is decreasing year by year, and in 2000, the world’s second-largest per capita GDP has been surpassed by neighboring South Korea and Taiwan, and currently ranks 38th (according to the International Monetary Fund). (estimated by the IMF’s World Economic Outlook), and Japan’s leading companies and tourist facilities continue to be acquired by foreign companies. Recently, there has been a shortage of rice, the staple food of the Japanese people, and the economic situation is so dire that if things continue like this, even the survival of the Japanese people may be in jeopardy.
Under such circumstances, we, as local councilors, are dealing with such people on a daily basis, such as the companies and stores where our acquaintances and relatives work have withdrawn or gone bankrupt due to a decline in sales, and people who are experiencing an increase in the number of people living in poverty. The current situation is that the efforts of each local government alone are not enough.
Therefore, we hope that the Japanese government will revive the economy by abolishing or reducing the consumption tax, changing the government’s fiscal policy from austerity to active fiscal policy, and increasing the allocation tax from the national government to local governments. In May 2020, we launched the “Local Parliamentary League Promoting Proactive Fiscal Policy”, a nonpartisan federation of parliamentarians, hoping that all measures would be taken to save the city.
Currently, we are holding lectures and opinion exchange sessions with pro-fiscal-minded Diet members and political commentators from each party, handing over proposals compiled by our association, and making other requests to improve the quality of our members and realize proactive fiscal policy. We are doing this. We are also working in collaboration with the “Association of Mayors who consider the state of national finance from the local level” (Chairman: Yasushi Nakayama (Mayor of Kyotango, Kyoto Prefecture)), which is made up of mayors from all over the country.
* Regarding implementation of public questionnaire *
In previous national elections, all parties have pledged to improve the economy and protect the lives of the people, and the government has launched various economic policies, but the results of the pledges and the economic policies implemented have been significant. There is a disconnect, and people’s lives are only getting worse instead of improving.
Therefore, we asked each candidate questions regarding the five areas that we believe are necessary in order to deliver the results as promised: consumption tax, financial policy, agricultural policy, childcare policy, and infrastructure development. We are active in wanting to hear from you.
In addition, in February of this year, we published “75 Common Policy Recommendations from 144 members of a bipartisan coalition that transcends the boundaries between the ruling and opposition parties.” We are handing this out to all candidates in hopes that they will incorporate it into their work.
“75 Common Policy Recommendations from 144 members of a bipartisan parliamentary coalition that transcends the boundaries of the ruling and opposition parties.”
https://sites.google.com/view/government-finance/information?authuser=0#h.yp6nrlv6exc9
* Schedule of public questionnaires for the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election *
After candidates announce their candidacy: We will be handing out public questionnaires on September 2nd.
September 12th (Thursday) Notification date
September 14th (Saturday) 17:00: Deadline for responding to public questionnaire * September 15th (Sunday) afternoon: Public questionnaire response results announced*
September 27th (Friday): Voting day
It seems that the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election is attracting more attention than ever before.
I hope that it will serve as a reference for party members to vote in this election, and I hope that it will be used as a reference for many voters to vote in future national elections.
* About the Local Parliamentary Federation that promotes proactive fiscal policy *
Organization name: Local Diet Members’ Federation Promoting Proactive Fiscal Policy
Address: 628-18 Futami, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture
Representative: Co-representative Omi Hirose (Member of Sado City Council, Niigata Prefecture)
Established: May 2020
URL: https://sites.google.com/view/government-finance/
[For media inquiries regarding this matter]
Public Questionnaire Liberal Democratic Party Person in Charge: Takayuki Kawaguchi (Member of Iwakuni City Council, Yamaguchi Prefecture)
TEL: 090-6834-5636
E-MAIL: localfinancial55@gmail.com