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though it can become the ground of a petition, begets no right of administrative litigation.
Finance forms an important part of the Administration, as it relates to the management of the annual expenditures and revenue of the State, and has a close and intimate bearing upon the resources of the people. Accordingly, great importance is attached to it by the Constitution, which clearly defines the extent of the rights of the Imperial Diet as to consent and control in regard thereto.
62. It is one of the most beautiful features of constitutional government, and a direct safeguard to the happiness of the subjects, that the consent of the Diet is required for the imposition of a new tax, and that such matters are not left to the arbitrary action of the Government. When a new tax is imposed over and above already existing ones, or when the rate of taxation is to be modified, it must be left to the option of the Diet what would be a proper degree of taxation. ‘Administrative fees or other revenue having the nature of compensation,’ as mentioned in the second clause of the present article, are such as are collected from private individuals for undertakings engaged in, or for transactions conducted, by the Government for them at their request or for their benefit. They are in their nature different from taxes, which are imposed as a common duty to be discharged by all. For instance, railway-fares, warehouse charges, school fees, and the like, may be fixed by administrative ordinance, and need not be settled by law. But, as they are called ‘administrative fees,’ a distinction must be observed between them and ‘judicial fees.’ As to the provision of the third clause of the present article, a national loan involves the incurring of liabilities by the national Treasury to be met in the future. To a new loan, therefore, the consent of the Diet must always be obtained. The effect of a Budget extends only over a single fiscal year, so for giving subsidies or guarantees or making engagements that involve liability of the national Treasury the consent of the Diet is needed, as in the case of a national loan.
63. In the preceding article it has been assured that the imposition of new taxes must be determined by law. In the present one it is provided that the taxes now in existence shall in future be collected in the method and according to the rate heretofore extant, except in so far as changes shall hereafter be effected by new enactments. In order to meet necessary expenses, a State must possess some fixed revenue. Hence, not only has the Constitution not introduced any change