95% of Parliamentary political party income is “anonymous”

Parliamentary political party income 95% is “anonymous” November 29, 17:50

When NHK examined last year's report on the balance of political funds released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on the 29th, a political organization related to parliamentarians, the total revenue of the political funding party was over 6 billion yen. It was found that 95% of buyers who paid 200,000 yen or less once did not need to be included in the income and expenditure report. Experts point out that “the political funding party is less transparent and is a loophole for corporate donations”.

NHK examined the breakdown of revenues for 562 political organizations related to 398 members of the Diet in the last year's report on political funds balance published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Of this, the revenue from the political funding party was a total of more than 6,054 million yen, and the revenue after deducting expenses was about 4.8 billion yen.

On the other hand, the income from donations from individuals and companies totaled 3,284 million yen, and the revenue from the political funding party was about 1.5 times the income from donations.

According to the Political Funds Control Law, if the donation exceeds 50,000 yen per year, it is necessary to indicate the name, address, amount, etc. of the person who contributed to the income and expenditure report. If you exceed 10,000 yen, you will be required to write your name and address.

As a result of investigating each, 5% of donations from individuals with no name, etc. were donated by individuals.

On the other hand, 95% of party ticket revenues were 200,000 yen or less per transaction, which does not require the purchaser's name to be entered.

Prof. Nobunobu Iwai of Nihon University, who is familiar with political funding, said, “The political funding party, which is the biggest funding source for politicians, is not transparent and is a loophole for corporate donations.” “In order to gain the understanding of voters, it is necessary to discuss system reforms to increase transparency.”