Japan Eyes 1,000 Yen per Head for Planned Forest Tax

Tokyo, Nov. 23 (Jiji Press)--Japan's government and ruling bloc are considering charging 1,000 yen per head annually as a planned tax to secure funds for forest conservation, informed sources said Thursday. The tax will be imposed on 62 million residents, or all except low-income residents exempted from residential tax payments. Annual revenue is estimated at 62 billion yen. The tax will be included in the ruling camp's tax reform package for fiscal 2018 that will be finalized in mid-December, the sources said. Forests, which absorb carbon dioxide and help prevent landslides, are deteriorating in many parts of the country as it has become difficult to trace owners in many cases after generations of inheritance. To deal with the problem, the government hopes to build a system under which owners commission local forestry associations to manage their forests, with local municipalities acting as intermediaries between the two sides. Revenues from the planned tax will be used mainly to run the system, set to start in April 2019. The tax is likely to be collected together with the residential tax, a local levy. The central government is expected to distribute the revenue to municipalities in accordance with the sizes of forests in their areas. Some people call for introducing the tax in fiscal 2024, just after the end of the residential tax surcharges to support reconstruction after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Meanwhile, municipalities and proponents of the new tax in the ruling camp favor fiscal 2019. But the central government plans to raise the consumption tax to 10 pct from the current 8 pct in October 2019. The ruling bloc's tax panels will take all these into account to decide when to launch the forest tax, the sources said.Copyright JIJI PRESS LTD.