According to Berechman (1993, p. 170), another method of categorising
subsidies is on a subjective basis. Here, we have classified
subsidies as ‘operational subsidy’, ‘capital subsidy’, and ‘concessional
subsidy’. The definition of each subsidy is provided as follows in
accordance with our database. Operational subsidies consist of the
national, prefectural, and local subsidies and local contributions
included in the non-operational revenues.While local subsidies form
themainportionof this subsidy, the transferbasis of these subsidies is
different for each municipal government. Capital subsidies consist of
the national, prefectural, and local subsidies and local contributions
included in the capital revenue. Finally, concessional subsidies consist
of transfer to the fare income included in the operational revenues.
Fig. 3 shows the trend of subsidies in the public sector from 1990
to 2006. From this figure, we can see that the ratio of subsidies to
total revenue in public companies has increased since 1990. In
particular, welfare subsidies rose from about 12% in 1990 to about
23% in 2002, and to about 20% in 2006. One of the reasons for this
increase is the aging population and increased use of welfare
passes. As a result, public operators have to increasingly depend on
other accounting measures, although they are required to follow
self-supporting principles. In addition, the micro-data of each firm
revealed that there are some operators for whom subsidies account
for more than 50% of their total revenues.