The Democratic Party of Japan submitted a pension reform bill Friday to the Diet aimed at integrating the National Pension System and the pension programs covering salaried workers and public servants into an all-in-one system in fiscal 2008.
"It's obvious that the (government's) pension reform plan won't work any more than five years or so" without more drastic revisions, DPJ policy chief Yoshito Sengoku told reporters after submitting the legislation to the House of Representatives. "We are determined to continue calling for a drastic overhaul of the pension system and will await the people's judgment (on the issue) through the next Lower House election."
The party presented similar legislation to the Diet earlier this year as a counterproposal to government-sponsored pension bills that would hike premiums while cutting benefits over the next 19 years. But the DPJ's plan was vetoed.
Friday's bill advocates integrating the existing programs so that everyone would join a single pension system in fiscal 2008.
The system would consist of an income-linked program and another guaranteeing a minimum monthly payout of 70,000 yen for those in a lower income group that has yet to be specified.
To finance this minimum, the DPJ calls for raising the consumption tax by about 3 percentage points and introducing a system of taxpayer ID numbers so the government can fully grasp the income generated by the self-employed, who are responsible for filing their own tax reports.