【Special Issues: Industrial waste taxes】
Establishment of Industrial Waste Tax and the Current Status after its Enforcement
Takayuki Nagasaki
Senior Staff, Waste Management Team, Environmental Protection Department of Mie Prefectural Government
（13 Komei-cho, Tsu-sity, Mie Prefecture, 514-8570 Japan）


Abstract
Against the background of century of environment and decentralization, Mie prefecture established “Industrial waste tax” aiming at solving severe problems of industrial waste. This is the first prefectural discretionary earmarked tax.
The tax has been set to 1,000 Yen per ton of waste and is charged directly to the discharging enterprises emphasizing the direct responsibility of the discharger.
Before the ordinance came to force in April 2002, the total amount of waste disposal in Mie prefecture reduced considerably presumably because of waste reduction effort of the discharger enterprises. This may have been influenced by the announcement of the tax system and also by the waste reduction program started even before the enactment of the ordinance.
We consider this new tax system as a measure towards a recycling-based society. Optimal combination of this economic instrument with command and control methods like regulation and guidance and social methods like voluntary information disclosure by enterprises so as to produce an overall synergetic effect will be investigated by us.


Key words: Century of environment, decentralization, earmarked discretionary tax, discharger's responsibility, economic instruments