Western Japan City to Introduce Vacant House Tax in FY 2029

Neyagawa, Osaka Pref., July 9 (Jiji Press)–The municipal assembly of Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, on Thursday unanimously approved an ordinance to impose a tax on owners of vacant housing in the city. The measure is intended to encourage owners of housing left vacant to sell their properties to increase supplies of homes for families with children. The city aims to introduce the tax in fiscal 2029 after obtaining approval from the internal affairs minister. While Kyoto, another city in western Japan, plans to introduce a similar tax in fiscal 2030 for areas designated for urbanization, Neyagawa’s measure will be the first in the country to cover an entire municipality. The vacant house tax will be levied on top of the fixed asset tax on land and houses, excluding properties for business purposes and put up for sale or rent. The amount of tax would be 24,800 yen, for example, for a two-story wooden house that stands on an 85-square-meter land plot and has a total floor space of 96 square meters. Annual revenue from the tax is estimated to reach 139 million yen, which will be used for measures against crimes and natural disasters. Neyagawa, a major city northeast of the city of Osaka, the prefectural capital, faces an increasing number of vacant housing as its population ages. With a relatively small area of about 25 square kilometers and limited room for new housing development, the city government concluded that the new tax is needed for making more vacant housing units available in order to attract new residents, including child-rearing families. “We will attract new residents by making effective use of vacant housing,” Neyagawa Mayor Keisuke Hirose told reporters after the ordinance was approved. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]