The number of donations to “Hometown Tax” has now reached 51.84 million, totaling 965.4 billion yen, approaching 1 trillion yen. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has put a stop to it.

(Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takeaki Matsumoto) “We will prohibit local governments from soliciting donations through portal site operators that award points, etc., as a means of attracting donors.”

On June 25th, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced a review of the rules of the hometown tax payment system. Starting next October, it will be prohibited to solicit donations through intermediary sites that give their own points to donors. The background to this is the heated competition between intermediary sites to attract users.

When donating through an intermediary site, the site gives users their own points in addition to the thank-you gift from the local government. Intermediary sites have aimed to attract users by offering these points as a perk. However, it appears that the funds for the points are borne by the local government, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications wants to reduce the expenses that local governments pay to the site, and use that money to encourage use of hometown tax within the local government, which is the original purpose of the system.

This was heard from people in the town.

“It’s a shame that the sense of gratitude will disappear. (The existence of points) is huge.”
“I always thought I was getting good deals, so I think I’ll still use the points even if I run out.”