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goinggoinggone comments

Posted in: Town in Niseko ski resort area to tax lodgers See in context

If it was a fixed fee, I could understand but a rolling % is difficult to understand when other precedence has already been set in major cities with significant year round tourist visitation.

This seems like a purely 'foreigner targeted' tax grab.

The Niseko area already generates huge amounts of tax from the building of these new condominium complexes, luxury houses and hotels but you wouldn't know when you visit. Who knows where the money is being spent but Kutchan, as a large rural town/small city looks no different to any other similar rural town/small city in countryside Japan that doesn't receive the same windfall generated by the continual sale of land and houses.

As @bearandrodent says, the 2% won't go to where it is needed, it will go into the administrative process of policing the collection of the 2% from the accommodation provider which will be harder than one expects.

I agree something needs to be done but my experience with initiatives like this in similar situations in Japan leads me to believe that it will be a lot of paper pushing, a lack of direction and decision making and many years of policy changes before something resembling a successful outcome for the area is achieved.

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