"The Night the Tax Office Lights Go Out: The Case for Abolishing Local Taxes and the Vision of an Environmental State (Around 2010)"

"The Night the Tax Office Lights Go Out: The Case for Abolishing Local Taxes and the Vision of an Environmental State (Around 2010)" The concept of improving efficiency through the abolition of local taxes is portrayed not merely as an argument for tax cuts, but as an idea aimed at fundamentally restructuring Japan’s administrative system. The author points out that local taxes entail enormous collection costs, and that the differing systems and filing procedures across municipalities place a burden on both businesses and the government. Therefore, the author argues that by abolishing resident taxes and business taxes, and instead having the national government collect an environmental tax in a centralized manner and distribute it to local governments, it would be possible to reduce redundant administrative tasks and personnel costs. The text also outlines a plan to redeploy approximately 70,000 local tax officials to fields facing labor shortages, such as nursing care, childcare, and child guidance services. The idea is to shift the labor previously spent on tax collection toward work that supports people’s daily lives. On the other hand, in reality, the development of the eLTAX local tax electronic system is progressing, and reforms are underway focused on efficiency and standardization rather than complete abolition. While there are many challenges to fully shifting the massive local tax system to an environmental tax, the argument that administrative duplication should be reduced and limited human resources redirected toward social security and community support still carries significant weight today.