A tiny step toward transparent tax spending

　僕は英辞郎を使って英語を読みまくり、インターネットラジオのNHKのラジオジャパン英語ニュースで時事英語を聞きまくってます。（＾＾；
参考「こんな感じで英辞郎を使ってます」

A tiny step toward transparent tax spending

04/06/2005

It is a fact that taxes are hard to collect, while questions are constantly raised about the way the funds are spent. How about letting taxpayers choose the way their money is spent.

2005年04月05日（火曜日）付
【天声人語】

　とかく税金は集めにくい。使い方への批判もあふれる。ならば、住民に使い道を選んでもらえば、いいじゃないか。

Ichikawa city in Chiba Prefecture has translated the idea into an ordinance.

Under the new plan, residents can offer 1 percent of the municipal tax they pay to nonprofit or citizens' groups operating in the city. A taxpayer can choose only one group.

When informed of the designated group, city hall will allocate the earmarked tax contributions as municipal subsidies.

The method, patterned after the taxation system in Hungary, is called the taxpayers' support system for citizen-activity groups. Ichikawa introduced it this month, with the start of fiscal 2005. It is the first municipality in Japan to do so.

　こんなアイデアを条例で実現させた市がある。千葉県市川市だ。住民は自分が払う市民税の１％分を、市内のＮＰＯや住民団体に提供できる。応援したい団体をひとつ選び、市役所に通知すれば、市の補助金として届けられる。名づけて「納税者が選ぶ市民活動団体支援制度」。ハンガリーの税制をまねて、今春から日本で初めて導入した。

Eighty-one groups are vying for the 1-percent contributions. They seek funding for diverse projects, ranging from a program to raise welfare-service volunteers to a baseball course for kids and the staging of a musical performance. One group on the list plans to hold a mah-jongg course for beginners.

Sometime this month, these groups will start canvassing, running ads in the municipal gazette or appealing for support on the streets. Residents will choose which groups to support by early May.

　「１％」の受け手には、８１の団体が並んでいる。福祉ボランティア養成、少年野球教室、ミュージカル公演など、やりたい事業はさまざまだ。マージャン入門講座なんてのもある。今月から各団体が市の公報や街頭で「清き１％を」と呼びかける。住民は５月上旬までに応援先を決めていく。

Because Ichikawa is a city of about 460,000, 1 percent of its municipal tax revenue amounts to about 300 million yen. But many of its residents are so-called Chiba tomin-those who think of themselves more as Tokyo citizens, although they live in Chiba Prefecture.

Naturally, they are scarcely interested in local affairs.

Taking this into consideration, officials at city hall predict that a modest one in every 10 citizens will choose recipients for their tax contributions. In other words, they say, about 30 million yen will be diverted from municipal coffers.

The final results of canvassing, to be announced in June, are a tossup.

　４６万人余りが住み、市民税は１％でも３億円になる。だが、いわゆる千葉都民が多く、地元への関心は極端に低い。市は「税の提供先を決めるのは１０人に１人、総額で３千万円くらい」と控えめに見込む。６月の最終結果は、開けてみてのお楽しみだ。

While other municipalities are considering introducing similar systems, objections are already being raised to the Ichikawa model. One critic argues, "The Ichikawa ordinance runs against the spirit of equality under the law because it ignores the wishes of people who do not have any taxable income." Another contends, "The municipal tax should be cut by 1 percent, instead."

　似たような制度は他の自治体でも検討中だが、異論もある。「税を納めない低所得者の意向が無視され、法の下の平等に反する」「１％は減税するのが筋だ」などだ。

As the central and local governments groan under debt exceeding 700 trillion yen, the prospect of sharp tax hikes appears to be inevitable.

Now is a good time to rethink the balance between public services and the tax burden.

Hence, Ichikawa's new system that allows citizens to see where their tax money is going.

Although the new-found transparency is limited to 1 percent of citizen's municipal taxes, it is a tiny but precious step forward.

　いま政府と自治体は７００兆円を超す借金にあえぐ。増税の足音が聞こえている。受益と負担の関係を問い直すときだ。だからこそ、わずか１％でも自分の税の行き先が見えるのはいいことだろう。小さいけれど貴重な一歩になる。

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 5(IHT/Asahi: April 6,2005)