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November 14, 2014

Shimane Prefecture to tax idled nuclear reactors

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/11/14/national/shimane-prefecture-to-tax-idled-nuclear-reactors/#.VGct3Ml5B1s

JIJI

MATSUE, SHIMANE PREF. – The Shimane Prefectural Government said Friday that it plans to introduce a new tax on nuclear reactors based on their output capacities.

Revenue from the tax is estimated to total ¥3 billion for five years from next April, regardless of whether the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at Chugoku Electric Power Co.’s Shimane nuclear power station remain offline, according to the prefectural government.

Since both reactors were halted in fiscal 2011, the prefecture has had no revenue from the existing nuclear fuel tax that is imposed at a rate of 13 percent on the value of nuclear fuel used in the reactors.

The Shimane government will submit to the prefectural assembly an ordinance proposal later thismonth that calls for lowering the fuel tax rate to 8.5 percent while collecting a tax of ¥41,100 per kilowatt in reactor capacity every three months.

As the new tax is roughly equal to an 8.5 percent nuclear fuel tax, the effective tax rate on the rectors will rise to 17 percent, prefectural officials said.

Using revenue from the new tax, the prefectural government is considering creating a new subsidy program for nuclear disaster response covering the city of Matsue, which hosts the Shimane nuclear plant, and three other municipalities within 30 kilometers of the plant.