"I am justice" is a turbulent day! Nov 7 11:13

"This is a battle to protect local autonomy"
They are making the same claim and fighting fiercely.
It is Izumisano City, Osaka, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The confrontation over the overheating "hometown tax payment" finally led to a legal battle.
I explored the behind-the-scenes of the development of unusual creations, and thought about what the hometown and tax payment should be, and what “local autonomy” is.
(Souichiro Suzuki, Tomoyo Nishizawa)

Is the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ignoring unexpected “recommendations”?

“As a result of the re-examination, we decided to maintain the decision not to designate Izumisano City.”

October 3, press conference room on the 8th floor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which had been advised to reexamine the removal of Izumisano City from the new system of hometown tax payment, was reviewed by the national third-party organization, the National and Regional Dispute Settlement Committee, which mediates the dispute between the country and the region. Subsequently, Izumisano City was decided to be excluded and the section in charge held a press conference.

The continuation of the exclusion was as expected by the gathered reporters.
However, after that, the reason for the continued exclusion, explained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, was totally unexpected—

Let's look back on the background.

In the new Furusato tax payment system that started in June, a new rule was set up to prevent competition for return goods between the overheated local governments. It was decided. Before the start of the new system, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has issued similar rules to local governments and called for “self-control”, but some local governments did not comply.

In response, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications decided to exclude the Izumisano City from these new municipalities, especially four cities and towns that collected large amounts of donations.

In this regard, the dispute resolution committee pointed out that "making the situation before the start of the new system a direct reason for exclusion may violate the law."

He advised the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to consider another reason for continuing the exclusion.

Can the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications explain another persuasive reason?

At the beginning of the October 3rd press conference, our interest was gathered at one point.
Then, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications argued straight from the dispute processing committee's point out that “making past factual relationships one of the criteria for judgment is not a violation of the law”. They decided to continue excluding Izumisano City without changing the reason.

“Can I dismiss the dispute resolution committee's recommendation?”

The reporter asked questions one after another, but the department in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reiterated, “It was a result of taking the recommendation seriously and considering it comprehensively and from multiple perspectives.”

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications clearly clarified its attitude to the end to the end of the recommendation of the dispute resolution committee that pointed out that "the de facto defeat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications".

Do n’t use “Janken”

"I'm a mess ..."
Mayor Chiyomatsu of Izumisano City who heard the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications leaked in a sigh.

In Izumisano City, following the recommendation of the dispute resolution committee, it was difficult for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to find a new reason for continuing the exclusion, and they were preparing to participate in the new system.

Mayor Chiyomatsu expressed his intention to file a complaint with the Osaka High Court, just 45 minutes after the press conference of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, according to the reporter's interview.

Izumisano city with a population of 100,000 in southern Osaka.
He argued that the series of circumstances surrounding his hometown tax payment system is “a problem related to the foundation of local autonomy,” and he has continued to take a step back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Izumisano City was heavily overwhelmed by the ups and downs of Kansai Airport, which was built 25 years ago offshore, and has been on the verge of financial collapse for over 10 years.

Under such circumstances, the hometown tax payment is regarded as a “death and death recovery” and can be exchanged for airline tickets for cheap airlines based in Kansai Airport, as well as 1000 types of returned goods such as beef and beer that are not local products. Two years ago, in FY2017, we collected donations of 13.5 billion yen, the highest in the country.

The notification issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in search of “self-control” is not complied with “It is the judgment of each local government whether or not to follow,” while the introduction of the new system is being discussed in the Diet. Introduced an initiative to give Amazon gift certificates in addition to return gifts.

As a result of this large-scale performance, the donation for the next fiscal year was approximately 50 billion yen, and Izumisano City alone accounted for nearly one-tenth of the donation collected nationwide.

“We do not go against the law. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is trying to make each local government follow regulations by creating a system that is flawed on its own and creating regulations like“ Janken ” Is contrary to the purpose of local autonomy. "

Izumisano City, which was excluded from the new system, confidently submitted an appeal to the dispute resolution committee, and the committee's recommendation was “natural.”

"I don't let honesty see fools"

On the other hand, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is also convinced that it is their own who respects local autonomy.

“Our hometown tax payment is a system created in anticipation of the common sense of each local government, and has been persistently urging to promote“ self-control ”to protect its spirit. I can't admit that “honesty sees a fool.” What is bound by the rules from the start is a response against local autonomy. ”

The explanations of the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications regarding the interviews are consistently unchanged.

For that reason, the recommendation of the dispute resolution committee was shocked within the province. However, Hana didn't have the option to accept participation in the new system in Izumisano City.

Because the dispute resolution committee also criticized the Izumisano city for collecting donations, saying, “The response to the impact on other local governments has led to a situation where the existence of the tax payment system is at risk”. Because it was.

Then why did the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications not change the reason for excluding Izumisano City in the form of denying the committee's pointed out as mentioned at the beginning?
An executive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said, “If you give a new reason, it will be objected to being 'retrofitted' in the case of a trial, it may be disadvantageous,” on the assumption that it will be a legal battle with Izumisano I confess that it was a decision.

Minister Takaichi, who was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by remodeling the cabinet after the recommendation of the committee.

When Izumisano City filed a lawsuit, it became a “defendant”.

I read the recommendations many times and took my own hands on the decision to continue exclusions written by the department in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
At the press conference after the decision, he stressed, “I think it is a response from the perspective of protecting decentralization.”

Will the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications make a good judgment or a bad judgment in the trial?
One of the members of the dispute resolution committee responded to the interview, saying, “It is meaningless to say an opinion about the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. It can only be said that the opinion is different.”

Is it the “cost” of decentralization? Is it a “risk”?

The conflict in which both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and Izumisano City have raised the flag of “local autonomy”.

An executive from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications explains, “It's a clash of ideas about decentralization.”

Izumisano City's response is to be admitted as "cost" necessary to protect the decentralization philosophy, and "it must be excluded as a" risk "threatening the maintenance of the decentralization system" It ’s an idea.

Both sounds like a reason, but Professor Mitsumitsu Sato of the Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, who is familiar with local finance and taxation systems, points out that there were problems in both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Izumisano city.

“Izumisano ’s response has to say that it has seriously damaged the hometown tax payment system, and it ca n’t be justified. I understand that I could not choose as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in front of other local governments.

“On the other hand, this issue was born in the distortion of the system, and I think that it is a mistake to make it the responsibility of a local government, Izumisano City. `` The supervision is the role of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications should frankly reflect that the response has been delayed in the name of local autonomy. ''

Also the abolition of return goods

Regarding hometown tax payments, there are voices pointing out the fundamental problems of the system other than “overheating of returnable goods competition among local governments”.

One is criticism that it is a system that is advantageous to people with high income.

The hometown tax payment system is a system that deducts the resident tax paid to the local government where you live, depending on the amount of donation. The higher the income, the higher the amount of taxable people. In other words, if you donate to a municipality that offers return items, the higher the income, the more you can receive more return items with virtually no burden.

In addition, for local governments where tax revenues have flowed out to other local governments due to hometown tax payments, the “local allocation tax” issued by the government for local financial support will compensate for much of the outflow. Yes. The financial source is tax.

It is pointed out that this is advantageous for high-income earners in a double sense because all taxpayers, including those who do not pay their hometown tax, are making compensation.

The other is a serious decline in tax revenues in some municipalities.

Local governments that are rich in finance and not originally subject to local allocation tax do not have compensation from the state, and the outflow of tax revenues due to hometown tax payments is directly reduced.

Like Tokyo 23 wards, Setagaya Ward's sales are expected to drop by 5.3 billion yen this year.
Setagaya Ward calls on the country to take measures, such as “comparable to the annual cost of collecting and recycling waste throughout the city”.

Hometown tax payment, as its name suggests, is a system designed to foster a culture of donation to local governments that you want to support, such as your hometown.

The above-mentioned professor Sato emphasizes that it is time to consider a radical review of the system, including the abolition of returnable goods, saying that the current situation is no different from online shopping.

“Hometown tax payment is actually a system that pays the local tax that should be paid to the local government where you live, to the other local governments, and should pay in sympathy with the policy of the local government, etc. Against this issue, it was the local government that gave too much return, but it was the citizens who received it, and not only local autonomy but also our attitude towards donation. ''

Rooted or donated culture

On the other hand, an increasing number of people donate without return goods using the hometown tax payment system.

Atsuma-cho where tremendous damage occurred due to the seismic intensity of 7 observed in the Hokkaido Iburi Eastern Earthquake last September.
Immediately after the disaster, donations utilizing the hometown tax payment system were received from all over the country, and 1,130 million yen was collected in the year of 2018. That was more than five times the amount of the previous year.

In Atsuma-cho, 247 households and 435 people are still living in temporary housing (as of the end of October, including deemed temporary housing), and part of the donation collected in the town will be used for construction costs for disaster public housing. That's it.

The town official said, “I was very encouraged and thankful for the goodwill donations from across the country.”

Hometown Choice, Japan's largest website that mediates the procedures for hometown tax payment, has opened a dedicated site for “disaster support” five years ago to accept donations to the affected areas.

Donations to each affected area through this dedicated site were 1,929 million yen for the Kumamoto earthquake three years ago, 1,598 million yen for the heavy rain in the West of last year, etc. The total amount so far has been 6 billion It is said that it exceeds the yen.

According to the site management company, “The awareness of disaster relief using hometown tax payments is increasing year by year, and donations without return goods are gradually taking root.”

Donations to the affected areas of Kotoshino Typhoon No.15 and No.19 are accepted on many websites dealing with hometown tax payments, and the circle of support is expanding. What is necessary to firmly establish a donation culture in Japan without squeezing this momentum?

In addition to following the superficial phenomenon of whether the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications or Izumisano City will be armed, we will carefully analyze the merits and demerits brought about by the return goods and seriously address the problem that the system of hometown tax payment is asking us There must be.

Soichiro Suzuki, reporter of the political department
Joined in 2008. Political department after Tsu and Kobe. Currently in charge of coverage by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Osaka Station reporter Tomoyo Nishizawa
Joined in 2015. After the Maebashi station, Osaka station. Currently in charge of coverage of local governments in southern Osaka.