Survey finds governors split over Ishihara's hotel tax idea
7 governors support, 8 other oppose plan

Copyright 2001 The Yomiuri Shimbun
Article date: November 28, 2001
 

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's plan to tax hotel accommodations has been causing a heated and at times acrimonious debate among prefectural governors nationwide.

Seven governors, including those of Osaka, Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures, support Ishihara's hotel tax, while governors in Hokkaido, Tottori, Mie, Fukui and four other prefectures oppose the idea, with 31 governors neutral or at least uncommitted, according to a recent Yomiuri Shimbun survey.

On Tuesday, Ishihara officially submitted his hotel tax ordinance bill to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly's steering committee and asked for deliberation on the bill in the December regular session of the assembly. This is the second taxation scheme that the governor has devised to increase tax revenues. His scheme to levy an enterprise tax on major financial institutions was approved last year.

The planned levies will be 100 yen per night for hotel guests whose accommodation charges are between 10,000 yen and 14,999 yen, and 200 yen per night for customers whose charges are 15,000 yen or more.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun survey, the seven supporters of Ishihara also include the prefectural governors of Toyama, Yamanashi, Shizuoka and Ehime, while the opponents include the Kanagawa, Ishikawa, Saga and Nagasaki governors.

Those who did not take sides include the Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Kumamoto, Oita, Kagoshima and Okinawa governors.

Ishihara revealed the hotel tax idea on Nov. 2.

Tottori Gov. Yoshihiro Katayama, who was a bureaucrat of the former Home Affairs Ministry (currently the Public Management Ministry) and worked as section chief in several prefectures' tax departments, was the first to criticize Ishihara's plan, saying that the hotel tax is tantamount to asking people to stay away from Tokyo.

He also said he would urge other prefectures to lure national conferences to other parts of the country from now on.

Upset by Katayama's remarks, Ishihara angrily said it was Katayama who would find himself in a difficult position because he would not be able to raise the necessary tax revenues.

"Probably the government office behind him (meaning the Public Management Ministry) would not be happy if local governments acted on their own," Ishihara added.

Katayama retorted that the Tokyo governor should not raise such groundless, petty suspicions.

Akita Gov. Sukeshiro Terada said both were to blame because their exchange was childish.

According to the Yomiuri poll, prefectures that supported the hotel tax were mainly those where big cities were located.

Osaka Gov. Fusae Ota said the hotel tax was a good idea "because the United States also has such a tax," indicating that she wanted to introduce the tax.

Aichi Gov. Masaaki Kanda said the tax was suitable for Tokyo because Tokyo can take advantage of being the capital of the country in introducing such a tax.

Yamanashi Gov. Ken Amano also indicated his support for the tax, saying that at a time of division of power, the hotel tax is a method to secure tax revenues.

On the other hand, Fukui Gov. Yukio Kurita said the new tax exploited people because they have to go to Tokyo for everything they want to do.

Ishikawa Gov. Masanori Tanimoto criticized the new tax as a show of Tokyo's arrogance, criticizing the unilateral nature of decision-making in Tokyo.

Kanagawa Gov. Hiroshi Okazaki said his prefecture would not introduce the new tax, because he wants as many people as possible to come to the prefecture.

Of those on the fence, 20 prefectural governors said they were not in a position to comment on the Tokyo governor's decision.

Kyoto Gov. Teichi Aramaki criticized prefectural governors for scrambling to devise new taxes.
 

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