Japans „Heimatstadtsteuer“-System (Furusato Nozei) hat in allen Gemeinden zu einem Defizit von 86,3 Milliarden Yen geführt – obwohl das System jährlich über 1,2 Billionen Yen an Steuerspenden generiert, führen die Kosten für Dankesgeschenke und Zwischenhändler zu einem Nettoverlust.
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20260613-GYT1T00024/
12 Kommentare
Yeah because it’s a system made with good intentions but by boomer bureaucrats who like bureaucracy and friction at each step.
You buy something, then you have to go through multiple hops to claim tax refunds. Some municipalities support one stop solutions, some don’t. All have to send u a physical post anyway, as a proof etc etc.
Why couldn’t it be a central database linked to your tax ID.
It’s a stupid system. Many of the gifts are not even locally produced. The idea is to give some tax money to smaller rural municipalities with declining local populations. However, people in those towns also participate in the system, sending their tax money elsewhere in the country – which then goes to the companies that produce the „gifts“ rather than filling local coffers as intended.
This whole system is just a massive undertable scheme. You should not be receiving a gift for paying your taxes.
7% transaction cost? Seems reasonable if the funds are rly increasing in less populated lcoales.
When government claims people getting to keep more of their hard-earned cash counts as a deficit, it really makes me think that the government forgot it is supposed to serve the people.
Oh Japan, you never stop amazing me. I use it every year. Love my beer and meat that helps to lower my tax.
I honestly never do it as I don’t see the point. Sure I’d get a tax break if I buy a bunch of meat or fruits or beer. But I’d rather just not buy that shit and keep the money, even if it is getting taxed…
Every system in Japan results in a net loss.
They say having a baby is free. But it isn’t. You have to pay upfront, then you fill out some paperwork, then get a “refund”. Something like 400-500,000 yen. But I’m sure they don’t calculate how much it costs office workers to process the applications and all the faxing and printing etc into their cost analysis of the system. Just make it free and make the hospitals recoup the costs directly from the government at the very least.
It wouldn’t be Japan without the middle men 🙂
One more bill we are leaving for future generations.
Yeah this is a funny thing, I’m not the best at all with finance and my eyes start to glaze over when we get into the real apocrypha, but when my other half explained the basics of Furusato Nozei to my I found myself going ‚wait, but, surely that doesn’t make sense at all‘. Glad to hear I wasn’t being an idiot and that is indeed a silly system, but in the meantime I will continue enjoying getting random free shit for paying my taxes.
Make the tax less burdensome and people will feel less motivated to apply.