In a fascinating mix of tax policy, economics, and could-only-happen-in-Japan, Japan has this system called Furosatou Nouzei ("Paying tax to your hometown") which is beautiful and bonkers at the same time: https://www.furusato-tax.jp/about.html
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The original idea was "Thanks for the money. Remember canned plums, the locally-produced taste of your childhood? Here, have some plums." And that worked for a while... right until some bright soul decided "Hey wait a second... this is *a market*."
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"There is no requirement that you donate to a place you have an actual connection to. Not a bug, that's a feature: assessing connections would be hard and maybe you feel a special connection to the town you met your wife in even if you don't live there. What if..."
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"... what if your special connection to us was We Outbid Every Other Town In Japan Bwahaha?" And oh by God did they execute competently at it. And, predictably, an arms race ensued.
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The current detente appears to be "If you donate $5k we will give you a $2.5k cash equivalent (like e.g. a $2.5k voucher for Japan's largest travel agent)." Rationally speaking they should literally bid the price of a donation to 100% minus epsilon but I think collusion.
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And so now there is a web frontend on this to make sure that as many people take advantage of the system as possible. And you can even see towns specializing in whether they're going for straight-up economic incentives, SEO on that site, etc. Crikey. I could lose a day.
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"For [a donation of approximately $100], we will send someone out to a loved one's grave site within city limits, clean their grave, make an appropriate offering, and send you a photo." I expect opinions will be divided on this but I appreciate the person who thought of that.
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End of conversation
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