THE RECENT I,AND TAX REFORMS I07 



It is to be observed, however, that of this total amount, 57,161,502 

 yen are derived from the tax on the rice fields and other fields (46,792,418 

 yen from the rice fields, and 10,369,048 from the fields not irrigated). 

 The biU reducing the amount of the tax on the grain fields and rice field: 

 reduced the total amount of the tax by 65 %. 



To calculate how great would be the reduction in the eventual applic- 

 ation of the bill, we must know, at least approximately, the official value of 

 the land that can be taxed. We may find this official value from the rate 

 of the tax itself with sufiicient exactness by capitalising the amount 

 produced by the tax. Thus : 



{A) For Japan proper, Okinawa and the seven Islands of Izu : 



(a) for rice fields : receipts from the tax, yen 46,778,404, which sum, 

 capitaHsed at 4.7 %, represents about 995,000,000 yen. 



(&) for other fields; amount of tax, yen 10,312,582, which, capitaUsed 

 at the same rate, represents about 219,000,000 yen. 



{B) For Hokkaido : 



{a) for rice fields, tax receipts 14,014 yen, which capitalised at 3.4% 

 represent about 412,000 yen. 



(6) for other fields: tax receipts 56,502, which, capitaHsed at the 

 same rate, represent about 1,660,000 yen. 



From what has been already stated, it may be deduced that the approx- 

 imate official value of the grain fields and rice fields (exclusive of Hokkaido) 

 is about 995 + 219 milHons of yen, that is, 1,214.000,000 yen, and that 

 the approximate official value of the grain fields and rice fields of Hokkaido 

 is about 412 + 1,660 thousands of yen, that is 2,072,000 yen. 



It is thus very easy to calculate the amount of the land tax as modified 

 by the bill. The grain fields and rice fields of Japan proper and of Hok- 

 kaido taxed under this bill at 4 % and 3 % respectively, would give the 

 following return : 



(.4) Japan proper, Okinawa and Seven Islands of Izu : 4 % 

 on 1,214,000,000 = 48,560,000. Preceding receipts 57,000,000. Reduction 

 8,440,000 yen. 



{B) Hokkaido : 3 % on 2,072,000 yen =:- 62.160 yen. Preceding receipts 

 70,516. Reduction 8,356 yen. 



The whole of the diminution obtained according to the bill, would then 

 be, said its oppponents, about 8,500,000 yen, a reduction which the 

 Japanese treasury could not support. 



As to the other point, that the fiscal charges on landed property arc 

 among the least heavy taxes in Japan, the opponents base their state- 

 ment on the contrast between the present taxation and that to which the 

 Japanese population was subjected for ages, that is, payment in kind. This 

 payment in kind, according to the most reliable statistics, was as follows 

 in the years shown below: 



1837 12,174,629 kohu (i) 1873 11,239,712 koku 



1871 12,549,354 » 1874 10,745,982 B 



1872 12,135,195 » average for last 3 years. 11,373,630 » 



(i) Koku = hi. 1.8 



