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Press Release

Results of a Questionnaire Survey on Environmental Tax

December 5, 2005

The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) released the outcome of a questionnaire survey conducted on the environmental tax to be imposed on emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) according to levels of their emissions as one of the measures to tackle climate change. The MOE conducted the survey via the Internet from November 28 to December 1, 2005 and received answers from 1,442 people aged 20 and over across Japan.

Q1: Recently, more and more municipalities are introducing fees on waste treatment. Similarly, it is necessary to share the costs of protecting the precious global environment from adverse impacts of climate change. The basic concept of the environmental tax is to share the cost according to the levels of CO2 emitted. What do you think about this idea of environmental tax?

A1:
Approve194 (13.5%)
Generally approve755 (52.4%)
Generally disapprove259 (18.0%)
Disapprove113 (7.8%)
Do not know121 (8.4%)


Q2: Germany and the UK have already introduced the environmental tax. In Japan, the MOE has recently put forward a concrete proposal on its environmental tax scheme. The proposal suggests the tax rate to be about the price of a cup of coffee (180 yen) per month for an average household. Even with this low rate, the environmental tax can help pay for 5.2 million ha of forest management, solar panels for 500 thousand households, 1,820 units of wind mills, 900 thousand units of environmentally-friendly houses ("eco-houses"), 33 thousand units of eco-buildings and 350 thousand clean energy vehicles*. Do you approve of this proposal on environmental tax?
*As for the forest improvement, the amount mentioned-above stands for the area that can be managed until the year 2010, while the amounts for other items refer to the amount that can be cumulated within a year.

A2:
Approve384 (26.6%)
Generally approve737 (51.1%)
Generally disapprove168 (11.7%)
Disapprove82 (5.7%)
Do not know71 (4.9%)

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