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February,17,2026
Activity Report —Launching the “Federation Requesting a Freeze on the Transportation Tax” in Response to Shiga Prefecture’s Proposed “Transportation Tax”
December 4, 2025
On December 4, five local organizations announced the launch of a new association opposing the Shiga Prefectural Government’s proposed “Transportation Tax.”
The coalition — formally titled the “Federation Calling for a Freeze on the Transportation Tax” — was jointly established by the Shiga Prefectural Headquarters of the Happiness Realization Party (Representative: Mr. Kazuhiko Nishimura), the Hiroki Furuta Supporters’ Association of the HRP (Representative: Mr. Hiroki Furuta), the Citizens’ Association for Reviewing the Transportation Tax (Representative: Ms. Masako Matsuyama), the Shiga Prefecture Tax Reduction Association (Representative: Ms. Sayoko Kita), and the Shiga Transportation Tax Validation Project (Representative: Mr. Manosuke Ueda).
The coalition declared that it will launch a public campaign opposing the introduction of the tax.
Shiga Prefecture has released the draft of “Shiga Regional Transportation Plan,” which expects total expenditures of 11.28 billion yen, consisting of 5.98 billion yen from existing tax revenues and an additional 5.3 billion yen to be collected through the new “Transportation Tax.”
The coalition cited four major concerns against this plan:
1. The current “Transportation Vision” is unrealistic and unsustainable amid remarkable regional disparities and population decline. If the unsustainable “Transportation Tax” was introduced to sustain and expand the already unsustainable public transportation network, it would only worsen the current deficits, and ultimately lead to additional tax increases under the pretexts of “shortage of funds” and “relief for transportation-disadvantaged residents.”
2. The national burden ratio for FY2024 already stands at 46.1%, and the latent burden ratio — including fiscal deficits — reaches 54.6%. Introducing an additional “Transportation Tax” under such a circumstance would further put heavy burden on the life of residents and the future generations.
3. Like the “Forest Environmental Tax”, the “Transportation Tax” could expand nationwide, triggering broader tax increases across Japan by the tax increase in the Shiga Prefecture.
4. Public discussions seem to be led towards the predetermined conclusion of introducing the “Transportation Tax” without proper public explanations.
For the above reasons, the five organizations expressed their aim to work collaboratively as the “Federation Calling for a Freeze on the Transportation Tax” to prevent the tax.
From left: the Shiga Transportation Tax Validation Project(JUN), the Shiga Prefecture Tax Reduction Association (Representative: Ms. Sayoko Kita),the Citizens’ Association for Reviewing the Transportation Tax (Representative: Ms. Masako Matsuyama),the Hiroki Furuta Supporters’ Association of the HRP (Representative: Mr. Hiroki Furuta)
Mr.Hiroki Furuta announcing the current number of signatures
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