Actually, many city governments in Japan already get a redistribution from the national government in "local tax allocation" to the tune of over 100 billion USD every year, and cities like Tokyo with a large tax base or industry are excluded from this. Then there's "hometown tax" so local municipalities in Tokyo and the surrounding areas are losing local tax revenue.
I suspect a that many are not aware that taxes destined for the local government they live ("residence tax") in gets diverted to other cities, especially because many salaried workers don't do their own taxes, as was mentioned in the article. It's gotten to the point that some cities were running public service announcements saying that "donating through hometown tax leads to loss of local tax revenues" and saying funding for services like city-run daycare can be at risk.
In 2021, Tokyo "lost" about 400 million USD in tax revenue to this program, so it's not a trivial amount.
I suspect a that many are not aware that taxes destined for the local government they live ("residence tax") in gets diverted to other cities, especially because many salaried workers don't do their own taxes, as was mentioned in the article. It's gotten to the point that some cities were running public service announcements saying that "donating through hometown tax leads to loss of local tax revenues" and saying funding for services like city-run daycare can be at risk.
In 2021, Tokyo "lost" about 400 million USD in tax revenue to this program, so it's not a trivial amount.