Japan's bizarre tax programme – Reduce Tax Using The Furusato Nozei Program

This is an interesting idea. I wonder what impact it would have in the UK or US.

In particular in the UK, there is one large conurbation (London) with a disproportionate percentage of the country's economic activity. People move there for jobs. If they could redirect their local taxes to the villages they had come from, could it change the amount of subsidy those regions get? Sure, money is fungible, but not completely so. And many of London's migrants are from outside the UK, so their taxes would not be eligible.

People also move to the Bay Area, LA, and NYC for economic reasons from more distressed areas. It's less extreme than the London case, but could also have some interesting impacts.

In additional to the national income tax Japanese residents pay about 10% of income (after deductions) as local city tax. However the Furusato Nozei programme lets you redirect this money to various rural areas. The rural areas then kindly sends you a 'gift' to thank you - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/furusato-nozei/

real title: Japan Tax Tips: Reduce Tax Using The Furusato Nozei Program