Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara on Thursday proposed that Tokyo and neighboring local governments introduce two new taxes aimed at protecting the environment.
At a meeting held in Yokohama for the governors of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, and mayors of Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba, Ishihara called for taxes on large diesel vehicles and industrial waste.
"The living environment in the Tokyo metropolitan area is certainly not getting any better," he said in explaining the need for the tax.
Under Ishihara's proposal, a tax of between 100 yen and 200 yen would be imposed on large diesel vehicles traveling on expressways in Tokyo.
The tax would not be imposed on vehicles equipped with clean-air devices or on vehicles using the expressways from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The proposed tax is estimated to generate some 5 billion yen in annual revenues.
The Tokyo governor also called for the introduction of a tax on companies generating more than 1,000 tons of industrial waste a year, with the tax set at 500 yen to 1,000 yen per ton of waste.
Potential annual revenues from the tax are estimated at 12 billion yen, which would be used to finance waste disposal and measures to reduce air pollution.
Separately, governors and mayors also expressed their unified opposition to a plan to transfer the function of the capital to an area outside of Tokyo.