Izumisano City Hometown Tax Payment Allocation Tax Reduction Lawsuit City Loses Reversal Osaka High Court

Osaka In a lawsuit in which Izumisano City sued the national government for a significant reduction in the special allocation tax because it collected a large amount of donations through hometown tax payments, the Osaka High Court in the second instance rejected the city's appeal, contrary to the first trial, which judged the government's response to be illegal and canceled the decision to reduce the amount.

Izumisano City, Osaka, had filed a lawsuit against the national government, claiming that it was unfair for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to reduce the fiscal 2019 special allocation tax allocated by the government to more than 4 million yen, 4000 million yen less than the previous fiscal year, because it collected a large amount of donations through hometown tax payments.

In March last year, the Osaka District Court in the first instance reversed the decision to reduce the amount of donation on the grounds that "the government's provision that the income from the hometown tax payment that reaches a certain amount of donation income is a factor in reducing the special allocation tax is illegal," and the government appealed the decision.

In the second trial ruling on the 5300th, Osaka High Court Chief Judge Kazuhiko Tomita stated that "the local allocation tax has its own dispute settlement procedure" and rejected the city's appeal without making a judgment on the pros and cons of reducing the amount, stating that the city's appeal was not subject to hearing in court.

Mayor Izumisano: "It is extremely regrettable, and I would like to scrutinize the contents and decide on an appeal."

Izumisano Mayor Daiko Chiyomatsu commented, "It is extremely regrettable that the city lost the case, and we will carefully examine the judgment before deciding to appeal to the Supreme Court."

Attorney representing the city: "Judgment against local autonomy"

Yasutaka Abe, a lawyer representing Izumisano City, said, "This ruling is true to the government, and it does not properly refute our claims, and it is a ruling that is not permissible under the rule of law and is contrary to local autonomy."

Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Matsumoto: "The government's claim was recognized"

Minister Matsumoto commented, "I am aware that the judgment recognized the government's claim and dismissed Izumisano City's appeal, and we will carefully examine the details of the judgment in the future."