子ども手当 半額支給維持も容易ではない

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The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jun. 29, 2010)
No cash to spare for child allowances
子ども手当　半額支給維持も容易ではない（6月28日付・読売社説）

Child-rearing support measures require a balanced policy perspective and--more than anything else--fiscal resources to implement them.
　子育て支援は政策のバランスと、何より財源の裏付けが必要だ。

The Democratic Party of Japan has dropped its ballyhooed policy of paying in full a 26,000 yen monthly child allowance starting in fiscal 2011 from its campaign platform for the forthcoming House of Councillors election.
　民主党は参院選公約で子ども手当について、来年度から月２万６０００円を支給するという「満額実施」の看板を取り下げた。

The DPJ started the allowance system by paying 13,000 yen a month, half the originally set figure. Now the party claims it will "provide an additional allowance while securing fiscal resources." The additional allowance, however, will "take the form of building more nurseries and providing free school lunches to replace cash handouts."
　半額でスタートした現行の月１万３０００円に「財源を確保しつつ、上積みする」との表現にとどめている。上積み分も「保育所の拡充や給食の無料化など、現物サービスの充実策にも代えられるようにする」とした。

The DPJ will no longer pay the additional child allowance unless fiscal resources can be secured, and it will reexamine the priority it placed on cash handouts.
　財源がなければ上積みはせず、現金支給至上主義も見直す、ということだろう。

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DPJ right to change tack

This country is in dire fiscal straits, as exemplified by the issuance of government bonds worth more than tax revenue. Under these conditions, the provision of the 26,000 yen child allowance, which would require 5.4 trillion yen a year, is out of the question. The DPJ was right to change tack.
　国債発行額が税収を上回る非常事態の財政下で、年５・４兆円を要する子ども手当の満額支給は論外だ。路線変更は当然である。

Social security budgets will increase by 1 trillion yen a year as our society ages. From next fiscal year, 2.5 trillion yen will be needed to pay for the portion of basic pension payments to be covered by the state. Given the serious fiscal conditions, it will not be easy to fund additional child allowances nor to maintain the current provision of half the promised amount.
　社会保障関連予算は、高齢化の進行により、毎年約１兆円ずつ膨らむ。来年度からは基礎年金の国庫負担引き上げに２・５兆円が必要になる。子ども手当は上積みどころか、半額支給の維持も容易でないのが財政の現状だ。

In its vision on children and child-rearing, the government set a goal of increasing the capacity of nurseries by 50,000 children a year over five years.
　政府は「子ども・子育てビジョン」で、保育所定員を年に５万人ペースで増やす、といった今後５年間の数値目標を掲げている。

It will cost 1.6 trillion yen to achieve this goal. Such an amount cannot be scrounged together simply by recasting the budget and cutting wasteful spending.
　今後は、ビジョンの実現に軸足を移すということだろう。しかしこれにも、１・６兆円の財源が必要だ。予算の組み替えや無駄の削減で捻出(ねんしゅつ)できる金額ではない。

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Tax hike unavoidable

Unless the consumption tax rate is raised, it will be difficult to boost measures to help parents raise their children. The DPJ needs to recognize this fact. Then the party should redesign its child-rearing policy comprehensively by studying what level of child allowance would be appropriate, and how it could be provided. This should be done in tandem with discussions on the advisability of raising the consumption tax.
　消費税率を引き上げない限り、子育て支援を充実させることは難しい。民主党はその点をまず明確に認め、消費税の議論とセットで子ども手当の金額や支給方法、そして子育て施策全体の設計をやり直すべきだ。

Opposition parties also need to take such an approach. In its campaign platform for the July 11 election, the Liberal Democratic Party says it will "abolish nursery and kindergarten tuition fees." However, this would require at least 800 billion yen.
　この姿勢は、野党にも求められよう。自民党は昨年の総選挙に引き続き、「幼児の保育料と幼稚園費の無料化」を公約に掲げるが、少なくとも８０００億円は必要な施策である。

The LDP campaign pledges include "increasing the consumption tax rate to 10 percent," and details how necessary fiscal resources could be found. But the LDP should unequivocally tell voters that a hike in the consumption tax is the main premise for implementing measures that will greatly improve the social security system.
　自民党は「消費税率１０％」を公約に明記し、必要財源を担保してはいる。だが、社会保障の思い切った充実策を実行するには、まず消費税率の引き上げ実現が大前提であることをもっと強く、国民に訴えるべきだろう。

The British administration of Prime Minister David Cameron has put forth a policy of raising the value-added tax rate to 20 percent and freezing child-allowance payments for three years as it seeks to put Britain's fiscal house back in order.
　英キャメロン政権は財政再建のために、付加価値税率を２０％に引き上げ、子ども手当を３年間凍結する方針を打ち出した。

Japan's fiscal conditions are tighter than Britain's. It is impossible to maintain the social security system without asking the public to shoulder an additional burden.
　日本の財政状況は英国以上に厳しい。負担増なしに社会保障制度を維持することは不可能だ。

Voters need to discern which party will discuss and tackle this matter squarely and seriously in the upper house election.
　それを真正面から有権者に語る政党はどこか、有権者は参院選で見極める必要があろう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 28, 2010)
（2010年6月28日01時56分 読売新聞）