General Accounting - Ippankaikei (English) general account

It refers to the accounting that records the expenses necessary to carry out the basic activities of the country and the income required for said activities. When talking about the national budget, it often refers only to the general account.

In order for the state to allocate its limited budget to various activities rationally, it is desirable to have a single national accounting system and to account for all revenues and expenditures in a unified manner (the principle of a single budget). However, as the functions of the state become more complex and diverse, it becomes virtually impossible to handle huge incomes and expenditures in a single accounting system, and it becomes necessary to establish accounting divisions in order to clarify the contents of accounting and ensure the efficient operation of the government. In Japan, the Financial Law (Law No. 34 of 1947) provides that special accounts may be established by law only when the state conducts a specific business, when it holds and manages specific funds, or when it is necessary to use specific revenues for specific expenditures and to account for them separately from general revenues and expenditures. In addition, the budgets of government-related institutions such as public corporations, which are organizationally separate from general administration but actually carry out national business, are also deliberated and approved by the Diet separately from the general account. However, there is a close relationship between these various accounts, and there is overlap in revenues and expenditures. Therefore, in order to know the total amount of the budget, it is necessary to deduct this overlap.

Revenues in Japan's general account consist of taxes and stamp revenues, bond revenues, and other revenues. In terms of the percentage of total revenues, before World War II (average of fiscal years 1934-1936), taxes and stamp revenues accounted for 44.4% and bond revenues for 29.6%, respectively, making the proportion of bond revenues extremely high. This was because bond revenues were used to cover military expenses. After the war, a policy of non-issuance of bonds was adopted from fiscal year 1949 (Showa 24) to fiscal year 1964, so there was no bond revenue, and taxes and stamp revenues accounted for around 80%. However, from fiscal year 1965, bond issuance resumed in earnest, and from fiscal year 1975, special bonds were issued to make up for a significant tax revenue shortfall, and the proportion of bond revenues gradually increased. The total revenue of the general account budget for fiscal 2009 was 88.548 trillion yen, of which 33.294 trillion yen was from bond issues, accounting for a high ratio of 37.6% of general account revenue. Of the bond revenue, construction bonds were 7.579 trillion yen, or 8.6% of total revenue, while the amount of special bonds issued under the proviso of Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Law was 25.715 trillion yen, accounting for a high ratio of 29.0%, which is noteworthy. Special bonds have a long useful life, and unlike construction bonds, which are spent as a source of funds for the provision of public goods that future generations can enjoy, they are used as a source of funds for current expenses, so even though future generations do not receive the benefits of public goods, only the burden of repaying principal and interest is left to future generations.

Tax and stamp revenues were 46,103 billion yen, accounting for 52.1% of the total general account revenue, and other revenues were 9,151 billion yen, accounting for 10.3%. The breakdown of tax and stamp revenues is as follows: income tax was 15,572 billion yen, 17.6%, corporation tax was 10,544 billion yen, 11.9%, and consumption tax was 10,130 billion yen, 11.4%, the three major taxes being 15,572 billion yen, 17.6%, corporation tax was 10,544 billion yen, 11.9%, and consumption tax was 10,130 billion yen, 11.4%. Other sources were gasoline tax 2,628 billion yen, 3.0%, inheritance tax 1,522 billion yen, 1.7%, liquor tax 1,420 billion yen, 1.6%, customs duty 846 billion yen, 1.0%, tobacco tax 843 billion yen, 1.0%, motor vehicle weight tax 646 billion yen, 0.7%, and stamp revenues 985 billion yen, 1.1%.

Expenditures are expenses paid for financial activities in a given fiscal year, and are classified by major expenses, purpose, and use. Major expenses are the most straightforward way of showing how expenses were allocated to various policies in that fiscal year, purpose shows which national functions the expenses were allocated to, and is the most systematic classification, while use shows in what form financial funds are returned to the national economy. Defense-related expenses accounted for the largest share of expenditures before the war, and on average from 1934 to 1936, this category alone accounted for 45.8%, nearly half of the total expenditures. Combined with the next largest categories of national bond expenses and pension-related expenses, these three categories alone accounted for 70.2%. In contrast, after the war, the proportions of social security-related expenses, education and science promotion expenses, local finance-related expenses, and public works-related expenses increased. In terms of the ratio of the general account expenditure budget for fiscal 2009, the major expenditure items are social security-related expenses of 24,834.3 billion yen (28.0%), public works-related expenses of 7,070.0 billion yen (8.0%), education and science promotion expenses of 5,310.3 billion yen (6.0%), defense expenses of 4,774.1 billion yen (5.4%), national bond expenses of 20,243.7 billion yen (22.9%), and local allocation tax grants of 16,111.2 billion yen (18.2%). Of the national bond expenses, interest payments account for roughly half of that, at about 9,400 billion yen, but even if the principal is repaid by refinancing, at least the interest payments must be paid every year from current revenues such as taxes, so interest payments will account for an extremely high percentage of expenditures in future budgets.

The accounts of local governments are divided into general and special accounts, just like the national accounts. However, since the contents of these differ slightly from region to region, when looking at local finances nationwide in relation to the national budget, etc., the ordinary accounts, which are the general and special accounts excluding the public enterprise accounts, represent the scale and content of general administration.

[Masatoshi Hayashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

国の基本的活動を遂行するのに必要な経費やそのための収入を経理する会計をいう。国の予算というときには、一般会計のみをさす場合が多い。

　国が限られた予算を各種の活動に合理的に配分するためには、国の会計を一本にして、すべての歳入・歳出を統一的に経理することが望ましい（予算単一の原則）。しかし、国家の機能が複雑化、多様化してくると、一つの会計で巨大な収支を処理することは事実上不可能となり、経理内容を明確にし、政府の効率的運営を図るためには会計区分を設ける必要が生じてくる。そこで日本では、財政法（昭和22年法律第34号）によって、国が特定の事業を行う場合、特定の資金を保有してその運用を行う場合、その他特定の歳入をもって特定の歳出にあて一般の歳入・歳出と区分して経理する必要がある場合に限り、法律をもって特別会計を設置しうることとしている。また、一般行政と組織上は別ではあるが実質的には国の事業を行う公庫などの政府関係機関の予算も、一般会計とは別個に国会の審議・議決を経ている。なお、これら各種の会計間には密接な相互関係があり、歳入・歳出の重複がある。したがって予算の総額を知るためには、この重複を控除してみなければならない。

　日本の一般会計における歳入は、租税および印紙収入、公債金収入およびその他収入から構成される。歳入総額に占める割合をみると、第二次世界大戦前（1934～36年度平均）では、租税および印紙収入が44.4％、公債金収入が29.6％で公債金収入の割合が非常に高かった。これは公債金収入で軍事費をまかなっていたからである。戦後は、1949年度（昭和24）から1964年度までは公債不発行主義がとられたので公債金収入はなく、租税および印紙収入は80％前後を占めていた。しかし、1965年度から公債発行が本格的に再開され、さらに1975年度から大幅な税収不足を補うために特例公債が発行されるようになると、公債金収入の割合はしだいに増加した。2009年度（平成21）における一般会計予算の歳入総額は88兆5480億円であるが、そのうち公債金収入は33兆2940億円で、一般会計歳入において37.6％という高い比率を占めている。公債金収入のうちでも建設国債は7兆5790億円で歳入総額の8.6％なのに、財政法第4条第1項但書の規定により発行される特例公債の額が25兆7150億円で29.0％という高い比率を占めている点は特筆に値する。特例国債は耐用年数が長く、将来世代が便益を享受できる公共財の供給の財源として支出される建設国債と異なり、経常的経費の財源とされるため、将来世代にとっては公共財の便益が対応しないのに元利償還の負担のみが将来世代に残される。

　租税および印紙収入は46兆1030億円で一般会計歳入総額の52.1％を占め、その他収入が9兆1510億円で10.3％を占めている。租税および印紙収入の構成は、所得税が15兆5720億円で17.6％、法人税が10兆5440億円で11.9％、消費税が10兆1300億円で11.4％であり、以上が主要三税である。その他、揮発油税2兆6280億円（3.0％）、相続税1兆5220億円（1.7％）、酒税1兆4200億円（1.6％）、関税8460億円（1.0％）、たばこ税8430億円（1.0％）、自動車重量税6460億円（0.7％）、印紙収入9850億円（1.1％）となっている。

　歳出はその年度の財政活動のために支出する経費であり、主要経費別、目的別、使途別などに分類される。主要経費別は、その年度の諸施策にどのように経費が配分されたかをもっとも端的に示すものであり、目的別は、経費が国家のいかなる機能に配分されたかを示すもので、もっとも体系的な分類であり、使途別は、財政資金をどんな形態で国民経済に還流するかを示すものである。戦前の歳出でもっとも大きなウェイトを占めていたのは防衛関係費で、1934～1936年度平均ではこの費目だけで歳出総額のなかば近くの45.8％を占め、ついで大きな費目である国債費、恩給関係費とあわせると、3費目だけで70.2％に及んでいた。これに対して、戦後は、社会保障関係費、文教および科学振興費、地方財政関係費、公共事業関係費などの占める割合が高くなった。2009年度一般会計歳出予算に占める比率は、社会保障関係費24兆8343億円（28.0％）、公共事業関係費7兆0700億円（8.0％）、文教および科学振興費5兆3103億円（6.0％）、防衛費4兆7741億円（5.4％）、国債費20兆2437億円（22.9％）、地方交付税交付金16兆1112億円（18.2％）、などが主要経費の大きな支出項目となっている。国債費のうち利払い費はそのおよそ半分の約9兆4000億円であるが、元本の償還は借り換えで対応するとしてもせめて利子支払いだけは経常収入である租税などから毎年度支払う必要があるから、将来の予算のうち歳出のきわめて高い割合を利払いが占めることになる。

　なお、地方公共団体の会計も、国の会計と同様に一般会計および特別会計に分かれている。しかし地方によって若干その内容が異なっているので、国の予算などと関連して地方財政を全国的にみる場合には、一般会計と特別会計から公営事業会計を除いたものを普通会計として一般行政の規模・内容を表している。

［林　正寿］

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