臨時企業税違法 「公平な徴収」重視した最高裁

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Mar. 23, 2013)
Top court ruling reasonable on illegal taxation
臨時企業税違法　「公平な徴収」重視した最高裁（3月22日付・読売社説）

Should a special corporate tax introduced by the Kanagawa prefectural government have been deemed legal?
　神奈川県が導入した臨時特例企業税は合法かどうか――。

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the special corporate tax was "illegal and invalid." The top court decision finalized the decision against the prefecture in the tax lawsuit, a reversal of a high court ruling.
最高裁は「違法で無効」との判決を言い渡した。県の逆転敗訴が確定した。

The top court's judgment should be considered reasonable since it emphasized the principle of impartiality in the collection of taxes.
　徴収の公平性という課税の原則を重視した妥当な判断と言えるだろう。

Isuzu Motors Ltd., which has factories in Kanagawa Prefecture, filed the litigation, seeking the return of about 1.9 billion yen in taxes it paid to the prefectural government.
　神奈川県内に工場を持つ、いすゞ自動車が、徴収された約１９億円の返還を県に求めていた。

The Local Tax Law allows a company to be exempt from the local enterprise tax, either entirely or partially, by carrying forward past losses and deducting them from taxable income even if the firm is in the black for a single business year.
　地方税法は、企業が単年度決算で黒字になっても、過去の赤字分を繰り越して利益から控除することで、地方税の一つである法人事業税の減免を認めている。

In contrast to this, the special corporate tax imposed by the Kanagawa prefectural government did not take such losses into account, and was meant to tax single-year corporate profits.
　これに対し、神奈川県の臨時特例企業税は、繰り越し控除を考慮せず、単年度の黒字額に課税するものだ。

In court, Isuzu Motors argued the way the prefecture levied the tax was contrary to the carryover rule.
いすゞ側は、地方税法が規定したルールに反した課税だと主張していた。

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Well-matched to reality

In handing down its decision, the Supreme Court said the Local Tax Law provisions concerned are for the purpose of "ensuring impartiality in levying taxes by making equitable, as much as possible, the tax burdens of corporations, irrespective of fluctuations in corporate profits for different business years."
　最高裁は、地方税法の規定について、「事業年度ごとの所得金額の変動にかかわらず、法人の税負担をできるだけ均等化して、公平な課税を行うためにある」との見解を示した。

This is definitely a sound judgment well-matched to the realities of businesses, the performance of which can vary each year.
　業績が各年で変化する企業の実態に沿った適切な判断である。

Based on this reasoning, the top court said the taxation method employed by the Kanagawa prefectural government ran counter to the spirit of the Local Tax Law.
　その上で、判決は、神奈川県の課税手法は「地方税法の趣旨を阻害するものだ」と結論付けた。

The ruling can be said to clearly show the Supreme Court's view that taxation in disregard of conventionally recognized tax rules must not be allowed.
従前のルールを度外視した課税は認められない、という最高裁の姿勢を明確に示したと言えよう。

At the time of the imposition of the tax, Isuzu Motors was consistently in the red, having just narrowly managed to log a profit for a single business year thanks to support from banks and foreign companies. The top court seems to have also taken this into consideration.
　いすゞ自動車は当時、債務超過に陥り、外国企業や銀行などの支援で単年度黒字を確保したばかりだった。判決は、そうした事情も勘案したのだろう。

What led Kanagawa Prefecture to adopt the new tax was the Omnibus Decentralization Law that was put into force in 2000. The legislation was designed to enable local governments to levy local discretionary taxes on their own, if approved by the internal affairs and communications minister. Expectations subsequently surged among local governments for expansion of local tax autonomy.
　新税導入のきっかけは、２０００年施行の地方分権一括法だった。自治体が独自の法定外税を考案し、総務相が同意して施行する制度だ。自治体の間では課税自主権拡大への期待が高まった。

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Review discretionary levies

Kanagawa Prefecture, which was struggling at that time with a fiscal crunch, introduced the ordinance for the new tax in 2001. The tax targeted about 1,700 companies, including Isuzu, and was in place until it expired in 2009.
　財政難だった神奈川県は、新税に関する条例を０１年に制定し、いすゞを含む約１７００社を課税対象とした。０９年まで施行した。

It is understandable that local governments try to secure revenue by asking companies to bear tax burdens in exchange for administrative services provided by the local governments.
　自治体が、行政サービスを提供する対価として、企業に負担を求め、財源を確保しようという狙いは理解できる。

Commenting on the top court's ruling, Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa criticized the decision for "going against what our prefectural government has been striving for amid a major trend of the decentralization of power" from the central government to local governments.
　判決を受け、神奈川県の黒岩祐治知事は「地方分権という大きな流れの中で県がやってきたことに逆行する」と批判した。

The prefecture says it plans to return to the companies a total of about 63.5 billion yen in cash that was levied under the taxation scheme.
　県は徴収した各企業に計約６３５億円を返還する方針という。

The central government's Committee for the Promotion of Decentralization came out with a proposal in 2009, calling for local governments to "make efforts to effectively make use of local tax autonomy."
　政府の地方分権改革推進委員会は０９年、「自治体は課税自主権の積極的な活用に努めるべきだ」と提言している。

In line with the latest decision by the Supreme Court, both the central government and local entities must study anew what is desirable about taxation at the discretion of local governments.
今回の判決を機に、国と自治体は地方独自の課税のあり方を改めて検討すべきだ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 22, 2013)
（2013年3月22日01時11分  読売新聞）