The government plans to transfer some 30 billion yen in annual revenues from parking fines to local governments' coffers from fiscal 2006, government sources said Saturday.
The government expects a series of revisions to related laws to be passed by the Diet during a regular Diet session to convene in January, they said.
The government plans to consider the revenues it will lose as part of the cuts in subsidies to local governments in fiscal 2004. The aim is to attain a target set by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of implementing a 1 trillion yen cut in such subsidies for the next fiscal year, which starts April 1.
At present, revenues from traffic fines go to a special account and the money is then distributed to local governments as part of the state subsidies for accident prevention.
The government set aside 82.2 billion yen in subsidies for accident prevention under the fiscal 2003 budget and is now reviewing the subsidies as part of Koizumi's three-part reforms aimed at making local governments more financially independent.
The reforms, dubbed by Koizumi the "trinity reforms," involve cuts in state subsidies to local governments, a reduction in national tax grant allocations and transfer of the state's tax collection powers to local authorities.