TOKYO: Japan will introduce a tax of 1,000 yen per person per year in fiscal 2024, starting Monday, in a bid to secure funds for forest maintenance by local governments.

The new tax will be added to the residential tax’s per capita part from June.

From the revenue from the new tax, some 60 billion yen per year will be paid to local governments to support their activities to thin out forests, increase forestry workers, and replace cedar trees, which cause pollen allergies in many people.

From fiscal 2024, the government will focus more on the size of forest areas than the population when distributing tax revenues for forest protection.

In Japan, the residential tax is paid from June to May of the following year to the municipal government, where the taxpayer is registered as a resident as of Jan. 1.

The tax is made up of the per capita portion and the part that varies depending on the size of income. The per capita part is around 4,000 yen per year in many places. 

While the forest protection tax is introduced, Japan will terminate at the end of fiscal 2023 a special boost to the additional residential tax to support reconstruction from the March 2011 major earthquake and tsunami. The 1,000-yen boost was introduced in fiscal 2014.

JIJI Press