This study analyzes the altruistic and selfish motivations that underlie the payment made toward Japan’s Hometown Tax Donation system by the citizens, whereby they can pay the tax to municipalities other than the ones in which they reside and receive reciprocal gifts. Using the local government level panel data for 2008–2015, we find that the Great East Japan Earthquake led to an increase in payments through the system to municipalities in which disaster victims lived, thus reflecting an altruistic motive among the citizens. However, a 1% increase in expenditure toward gifts for donors led to only a 0.61% increase in payments, thus suggesting a selfish motive. Gifting thus dramatically reduces altruistic payments.

本研究分析了公民向日本家乡税收捐赠系统支付的利他主义和自私动机，即他们可以向居住地以外的市政当局缴纳税款并获得互惠礼物。使用 2008-2015 年地方政府层面的面板数据，我们发现东日本大地震导致通过系统向灾民居住的市政当局支付的费用增加，从而反映了公民的利他动机。然而，捐赠者礼物支出增加 1% 导致付款仅增加 0.61%，因此表明存在自私动机。因此，送礼大大减少了无私的支付。