A survey has found that 58.4 percent of respondents are supportive of a new rule limiting the value of return gifts handed out under Japan's furusato nōzei (hometown tax donation) system to local products worth 30 percent or less of the value of donations. The ...
Ministry plans to bar four local governments from Japan's new hometown tax donation system
The internal affairs ministry plans to exclude four municipalities from the revamped furusato nōzei (hometown tax donation) program, which will be introduced in June, it was learned Thursday. The excluded municipalities are Izumisano in the prefecture of Osaka, the town of Oyama in Shizuoka Prefecture, ...
Government adopts bill to limit value of gifts in Japan hometown tax donation system
In order to cool down heated competition among local governments seeking to attract donations with offers of expensive gifts for benefactors, the government Friday adopted a bill to overhaul the furusato nōzei hometown tax donation system. The amendment to the law on local taxation calls ...
Abuse is the norm for Japan's hometown tax donation system
On Sept. 11, then-Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda gave a news conference at which she stated the government's intention to revise laws for local taxes. The ministry, which regulates taxation at the prefectural and municipal levels, is trying to rein in the furusato ...
Falling for furusato: The epicurean incentives behind a tax strategy that masks economic lunacy
A decade ago, the Japanese government launched a program that allows taxpayers to make "donations" to smaller cities and towns across the country, and then have those contributions deducted from national and municipal taxes. A Tokyo resident like myself, for example, can give ¥10,000 to ...
Japan to curb expensive gift incentives under 'hometown tax' program
The program allows taxpayers to donate to any municipality and receive tax cuts, but has led to fierce competition among local governments to lure donations with expensive gifts.
Government eyeing rework of 'hometown tax donation' system to curb use of gifts
The government is considering reworking furusato nōzei (hometown tax donation), a system that allows taxpayers who typically live in urban areas to make donations to rural areas in exchange for tax credit, officials said Wednesday. The system was implemented in 2008 as a way to ...
Donations under hometown tax payment program hit record ¥284 billion in 2016
Tax deductible donations to municipal governments under the furusato nozei (hometown tax) payment scheme in fiscal 2016 hit a record ¥284.4 billion, the government said Tuesday. Donations were up 1.7-fold in the year ended March 31 from fiscal 2015 as simplified online procedures encouraged more ...
Rural 'furusato nozei' beer, beef thank-yous costing urban Japan much-needed revenues
Want a free case of craft beer? If you send ¥30,000 or more of your taxes to the town of Yamanouchi in Nagano Prefecture, they'll send you 24 bottles of a locally brewed beer to say thanks. Want beef? Redirect ¥50,000 of your local area ...
'Hometown donation' system emerges as effective way to help quake victims
Amid a flurry of fundraising and charity projects launched in the wake of last week's deadly earthquakes in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures, the "hometown tax donation system" is gaining attention as a way of getting money directly to affected municipalities. The hometown tax donation system ...
Government to use donation system to help young people settle in rural Japan
The internal affairs ministry plans to collect donations for people willing to move from cities to rural areas through the existing furusato nozei system, which provides tax breaks for donations to hometowns and other municipalities. The planned donation scheme is designed to support mainly young ...
Hometown 'tax' donations system catching on
Japanese may not be known as the most charity-minded people but if there is one charitable activity that has proved a hit in this country, it's the "furusato nozei" (hometown tax).
