地方教育費における「ふるさと納税」の意義

Abstract

現在日本の財政状態は極めて厳しく、公的教育費の持続的な確保のためには、行財政の効率化だけでなく、新たな財源の確保が急務となっている。本稿は地方教育費を対象に、ふるさと納税制度が自治体に対する寄附金を“新たな”財源としうることを示すとともに、平成27年度の実績としてその額を明らかにすることを目的とする。その結果、ふるさと納税による寄附金は現時点で把握できるデータでも既に約33億円の教育財源となっていることが確認できた。また先行研究では、自治体の財政力によって地方教育費に格差が生じていると指摘されていたが、財政力の弱い自治体がふるさと納税による教育財源を確保していることから、地方間の教育費格差を緩和する可能性があることを示した。Japan’s current fiscal condition and aging population do not warrant optimism, and it is important to improve local and national governmental operations with the increasing demand for social welfare. There is uncertainty regarding the ability to maintain the current level of public local educational expenditure, and previous research showed that there are regional gaps. As it is not sufficient for local governments to streamline their administrative operations, they need to find new financial sources for local public educational expenditure. Although previous research proposed the introduction of a tax for education and donations, they have either not been implemented or have not fulfilled their purpose sufficiently. This paper discusses the significance and potential of “the Furusato Tax, ” which allows local governments to acquire new financial sources for local public educational budget expenditure through a new type of donation system. A comparison of current local expenditure budgets and actual contributions by the “Furusato Tax” indicated that this tax represents a new financial source for local public educational budget expenditure, and the whole national contribution in FY2015 was at least 3.3 billion JPY. In addition, local cities with poor financial condition receive more sources for education than urban cities with good financial condition, which improves regional disparities.