CIRJE-J-54. Mochida, Nobuki, "Intergovernmental Allocation of Value Added Tax in Japan: International comparison", May 2001.

There seems to be broad consensus in the literature that comprehensive VATs are most appropriately assigned to the central level of government. Japan's Local Consumption Tax is unique in the sense that it combines origin-based piggy backing on the national VAT with a clearing system that is intended to reflect the destination principle indirectly. This paper seeks to assess LCT in the light of general criteria; equity, efficiency and administrative simplicity. Studying international experiences and recent development of tax theory, this paper argues the case for destination principle as a principle of tax on interregional goods and service flow. Finally, we investigate the way in which discretion on tax rate setting can be allowed to Japan's local consumption tax.