Japan wants to use "hometown tax" to revitalize remote villages and towns

Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, August 10th. Financial Observation: Japan wants to use "hometown tax" to revitalize remote towns

xinhua News Agency reporter Le Shaoyan Xu Yuan

with the decline of natural birth rate and the continuous flow of population from rural and local small towns to big cities such as Tokyo, the population of many remote areas in Japan has decreased, the industry has also declined, the overall economy has shrunk, the fiscal revenue has decreased, and the finances of some local autonomous bodies are on the verge of bankruptcy.

To this end, the Government of Japan has put forward a "local creation strategy", which seeks to revitalize villages that are losing their vitality by encouraging enterprises to move their corporate headquarters or production departments to small local towns, encouraging the population of large cities to move to small local towns, and implementing a "hometown tax system. Among them, the "hometown tax system" is quite eye-catching.

The so-called "hometown tax system" is not a compulsory tax system, but a voluntary donation to local governments. After the donor makes a donation, he or she will be able to receive a donation voucher from the local government. With the donation voucher, the donor can apply to the government tax department of the current place of residence for a reduction or exemption of resident tax, or apply for a refund of personal income tax.

The system stipulates that when the tax refund is implemented, the donor must bear the 2000 yen donation himself, and the rest can be fully tax-deductible. For example, if you donate 100000 yen, you can deduct 98000 yen tax.

Although the system is nominally a "hometown tax", it is actually a tax-deductible system design for donations, not only to the government of one's own place of origin. In order to take care of the interests of the Government of the donor's place of residence, the system also stipulates that the maximum contribution of the donor shall not exceed 20 per cent of the total tax payable by the donor.

In addition, the donor can designate the purpose of the donation and make it earmarked, or it can be arranged and used by the local autonomous body receiving the donation.

A few days ago, the reporter interviewed the "hometown tax" activity, which was carried out earlier and achieved good results, and inspected the actual situation of the town's acceptance of the "hometown tax" and how to use it.

Shangshiporo Town is located in the central part of Hokkaido, with a jurisdiction area of about 700 square kilometers and a population of less than 5000 people. It is an agricultural town with a large area and sparsely populated, with agriculture, animal husbandry and tourism as its main industries. According to Takeshima Town Mayor Takeshi Gon, due to the relatively single economy and declining birth rate, the town's "town tax" revenue in 2014 was only 0.62 billion yen, while other revenue was 0.58 billion yen. The central government transferred 2.7 billion yen to the local government, while the expenditure was as high as 6.13 billion yen. The financial situation is very serious.

Since the implementation of the "hometown tax" system in 2008, the town has actively strengthened "urban and rural" exchanges. In 2014, the town received donations of 0.974 billion yen, equivalent to 150 per cent of the main local tax, "town tax", which has become a very important source of income for the town.

The town government uses the "hometown tax" to hire outstanding teachers to strengthen primary and secondary education and the construction of child care homes. The town has also set up a "child care and fewer children countermeasure fund" to build a high-quality kindergarten with a high degree of modernization and a complete range of preschool teachers with a donation of 0.779 billion yen for the children of the town's residents to use free of charge.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, the amount of "hometown tax" donations has increased year by year, reaching 64.9 billion yen in 2012. It is becoming an important part of the financial source of remote and backward areas in Japan. It has played a role in narrowing regional differences and promoting the development of remote and backward villages. Important role.

2015-08-10 Source: Xinhua News Agency