想象这样一种税：人们竟然非常乐意缴纳它……日本的“家乡税”（Hometown Tax）正是这样的税种。事实上，它可能是世界上最受欢迎的税收项目——每年都有大量民众争相缴纳这笔税款。原因很简单，而且与“利他主义”无关：该税收允许居民将自己原本应缴纳给当地政府的一部分税款转移到日本其他地区的市政机构，作为回报，他们可以收到各种礼物（如和牛、高档水果或清酒）。
By Gearoid Reidy Imagine a tax that people just love to pay. Japan’s , or hometown tax, is just that. Indeed, it could be the world’s most popular levy, one that people rush to file every year. There’s a simple reason, and it’s far from altruistic: It allows residents to redirect a portion of what they would normally pay to their local government to another municipality elsewhere in the country, usually in return for a “gift.”These can include wagyu beef, fancy fruit or sake.
实际上，你提前缴纳了明年的一部分税款，然后可以拿回大约三分之一的税款金额作为回报。既然这笔钱无论如何都得缴纳，那么不参与这项税收计划实在没什么意义；而且，尽管这项税收被称为“家乡税”，但你并不需要与自己选择的城镇或村庄有任何实际联系。
In effect, you frontload a portion of next year’s taxes and get about a third of that amount back in produce. Since the money has to be paid anyway, there’s little sense not to participate — and despite the “hometown” name, you don’t need any connection to the town or village you chose.
这项最初规模较小的税收计划，如今已演变成一场激烈的竞争：各地政府纷纷提供更具吸引力的礼物，以争夺每年高达1.3万亿日元（83亿美元）的税收收入——这一数字是2010年的约130倍。
What began as a small program has snowballed into a mammoth competition between regional authorities to offer more attractive gifts and capture a share of the ¥1.3 trillion ($8.3 billion) spent each year. That’s about 130 times the amount in 2010.
一些富有创意的市政机构甚至违背了法律的精神（即便没有违反法律条文），提供的礼物与当地经济几乎毫无关联（比如纳帕谷的Opus One葡萄酒或iPad）。不过，这种情况即将改变。
Creative municipalities have repeatedly skirted the spirit, if not the letter, of the law by offering gifts with only the most tenuous connections to their local economies — ranging from bottles of the Napa Valley’s Opus One wine to iPads . That’s about to change.
从10月起，日本政府将要求各地方政府证明所提供的回报礼物的价值中至少有一半是本地生产的，并确保大部分捐赠资金真正留在当地政府手中。这一规定迫使纳税人尽快提交申请，因为新规定可能会使奖励变得不那么丰厚。这不过是地方政府与中央政府之间长期博弈的最新例证：地方政府不断试图扩大“本地产品”的定义范围，而中央政府则试图遏制这种滥用行为。这场争论甚至闹上了法庭——有一起涉及奢侈礼物和亚马逊购物券的典型案例，最终上诉到了最高法院（结果中央政府败诉了）。
From October, Japan will require municipalities to prove that more than half the value of return gifts is created locally, and require more of each donation stays with the local government. That’s sending taxpayers scrambling to submit applications before the changes potentially make the rewards less generous. It’s the latest round in a long-running game of cat and mouse between municipalities stretching the definition of “local,” and a national government trying to curb abuses of the system. The battle has even reached the courts: One notorious case, involving lavish gifts and Amazon vouchers, went all the way to the Supreme Court. (The national government lost).
此类荒唐事往往能登上头条，但切莫让它们成为故事的全部。任何能让人们对纳税感到积极的计划都应该受到鼓励。尽管存在种种瑕疵，该计划一直是成功的。
Such absurdities make headlines, but don’t let them become the whole story. Any program that makes people feel positive about paying taxes should be encouraged. For all its flaws, has been a success.
但并非所有人都认同这一点。一个有赢家的系统必然有输家，而在这种情况下，输家就是那些看着自己的税收流向别处的地区——主要是日本繁荣的城市。东京都知事小池百合子将该计划贬为“政府运营的邮购业务”，并呼吁重新考虑甚至将其废除。她今年早些时候抱怨说：“原本应分配给学校、福利和道路建设的资金，却变成了牛肉和扇贝。”
But not everyone agrees. A system with winners must have losers, and in this case they are the places watching their tax revenue flow elsewhere — mainly Japan’s prosperous cities. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has dismissed the program as a “government-run mail-order business,” calling for it to be reconsidered or even scrapped. “Funds that would otherwise be allocated to schools, welfare and road construction disappear into beef and scallops instead,” she complained earlier this year.
东京最大的区——世田谷区有更多生气的理由。它是最大的输家之一，据估计每年有超过120亿日元的资金流失。更糟糕的是，横滨等城市可以通过中央政府的财政转移支付系统抵消大约四分之三的税收损失，而世田谷区作为富裕的东京都的一部分，却一无所获。该区区长去年表示，总损失超过了重建区政府大楼的成本。
Tokyo’s biggest ward, Setagaya, has even more reason to be angry. It’s one of the biggest losers, estimating that over ¥12 billion flows out of its coffers each year. And worse, while cities such as Yokohama can have roughly three-quarters of the lost revenue offset through the central government’s fiscal-transfer system, Setagaya, as part of wealthy Tokyo, gets nothing. The totalloss, its mayor said last year, exceeds the cost of rebuilding its city hall.
世田谷区的担忧是合情合理的，但只说出了真相的一半。正是由于其地理位置便利、交通网络发达，才吸引了年轻且收入不断增加的居民，从而使其处于不利地位。在过去十年中，该区每年的居民税收收入的增长额，几乎是其因该计划而流失资金的两倍。
Setagaya’s concerns are legitimate, but only tell half the story. The same geography that leaves it disadvantaged by younger and increasingly well-paid residents with its convenient location and excellent transport links. Its annual resident tax revenue has risen over the past decade by almost double the amount that it loses to the program.
这些优势并非均等分配。纳税人更有可能向提供诱人地方特产的地区捐款，因此，如果你的家乡以生产水泥或钢板而非优质草莓而闻名，你在起点上就处于劣势。但日本已经将巨额资金从繁荣的城市转移到内陆地区，该计划使各市镇为争夺这小部分资金展开竞争。这并非坏事。竞争能激发创造力，同时将资金引导至能够创造就业和收入的本地企业。
The advantages aren’t evenly distributed. Taxpayers are more likely to donate to places offering appealing local products, so if your area is known for producing cement or steel plate rather than premium strawberries, you are starting at a disadvantage. But Japan already transfers vast amounts of money out of its prosperous cities and into the hinterlands. makes municipalities compete for a small share of that money. That’s not a bad thing. Competition spurs creativity while channeling funds toward local businesses that create jobs and income.
该项目甚至可以帮助处理那些本可能被浪费的农产品。长野县北部以盛产苹果闻名的饭纲町，就提供外观不达标的水果。同样，我很确信我经常作为回礼的一些精酿啤酒罐装得太满，导致它们很难通过常规渠道销售，因为它们在货架上不易保质。幸运的是，只要马上喝掉就能轻松解决这个问题。
The program can even help find a home for produce that might otherwise go to waste. Iizuna in northern Nagano prefecture, one of Japan’s best-known apple-growing areas, offers fruit that fails to meet cosmetic standards. Similarly, I am quite certain some of the craft-beer cans that are my go-to return gifts are overfilled, making them harder to sell through conventional channels because they don’t age well on the shelf. Fortunately, that’s easily solved by drinking them promptly.
最重要的是，在一个寻找避税方法受到推崇的时代，这样一种制度值得关注：它鼓励人们纳税，同时让他们对部分资金的去向拥有发言权，并为纳税人和受赠方带来切实的利益。这或许有助于解释为什么邻国韩国推出了自己的版本：故乡爱心捐赠制度。
Most importantly, at a time when finding ways to avoid taxes is celebrated, there’s something noteworthy about a system that encourages people to pay, while giving them a say in where some of their money goes and delivering tangible benefits to both taxpayer and recipient. Perhaps that helps explain why neighboring South Korea has launched a version of its own: the Hometown Love Donation System.
因此，放弃作品一号（Opus One）葡萄酒吧，但不要废除这个项目本身。日本对纳税人的要求已经够多了。就让他们保留这个福利吧。
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So, dump the Opus One wine, but not the program itself. Japan asks plenty of its taxpayers. Let them have this one. OPIN To contact the author of this story: at greidy1@bloomberg.net