EDITORIAL: Flip-flop on highway tolls

Oh, not again.

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan pledged to reconsider proposed new expressway tariffs to be introduced in June and then backpedaled the next day. The government now says there will be no such review for the time being.

We are utterly fed up with the Hatoyama administration's waffling and wavering on policies. We have already seen repeated changes in the government's position on the issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture and postal privatization.

The new toll scale is designed to funnel about 1.4 trillion yen ($15 billion) of taxpayer money into road construction and improvement. The money will be diverted from the 2.5 trillion yen that has been allocated to expressway operators as funds to finance toll discounts.

The new tariff caps tolls according to the category of vehicle--2,000 yen for passenger cars, for instance--irrespective of the day of the week. But the new system will scrap the existing discounts, including a fixed rate of 1,000 yen on weekends and holidays. As a result, tolls for short-distance journeys will be effectively raised.

In its manifesto for the Lower House election last year, the DPJ promised to make expressways toll-free. DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa and other members of the party criticized the new toll program for going against its election pledge.

With approval ratings for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet now below 30 percent, the DPJ expects an uphill battle in the summer Upper House election.

The DPJ leadership is apparently trying to avoid a further erosion in voter support. At Wednesday's meeting, top government and party officials, including Hatoyama and Ozawa, decided to reconsider the new toll plan in response to Ozawa's call.

This is not the first time that Ozawa's voice of authority has changed a policy decision by the government.

The same thing happened late last year, when the government was struggling to formulate a budget bill for the new fiscal year in the face of a severe revenue shortage. Ozawa influenced the government's decision on the outline of the budget by making key proposals. For example, he proposed postponing the planned scrapping of surcharges on gasoline and other taxes.

Ozawa's intervention in the budget planning process was regarded as the death knell for integrated and centralized policymaking by the government, a key election pledge. Apparently mindful of this criticism, the DPJ-led government has taken steps to maintain a semblance. Under a deal struck between Seiji Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, and Hatoyama, the new tariff plan will not be changed immediately, but is open for a future revision based on Diet debate.

It could be acceptable for the government to revise its policy decision in response to deliberations at the Diet as a new approach to politics.

But the developments concerning highway tolls have only highlighted poor communication between the government and the party as well as the ruling camp's pre-election opportunism.

It was none other than the DPJ that urged the government to divert part of the funds for toll discounts into road building projects. The move was apparently aimed at garnering local votes in the Upper House poll.

The DPJ was wrong in making the request, which is inconsistent with the government's vow to shift the policy focus from public works to people's lives. If reform of the toll system leads to any savings, the money should be returned to state coffers.

The government's revision to the tariff, if any, would be little more than a minor expansion of toll discounts financed by part of the money earmarked for road construction. That would be a cheap trick to pander to voters.

The highway toll snafu has raised fresh doubts about the Hatoyama administration's ability to govern the nation.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 23