(ふるさとのうぜい)

furusato nozei; the hometown tax-donation system

(るーる)

rule

(かわる)

to change

(じゅうがつ)

October

(じぶん)

oneself

(すむ)

to live; to reside

(し)

city

(まち)

town

(おかね)

money

(おくる)

to send / to take (someone somewhere)

(せいど)

system; institution

(ひと)

person / people

(おれい)

thanks; gratitude

(しなもの)

goods / merchandise

(もらう)

to receive

(これまで)

until now / so far

(いんたーねっと)

Internet

(さいと)

(web)site

(りようしゃ)

user

(ぽいんと)

point(s) (loyalty/reward)

(くばる)

to distribute, hand out

(しかし)

however, but

(くに)

country; the government

(めあて)

aim, what one is after

(きふ)

donation

(ふえる)

to increase; to grow

(かんがえる)

to think; to consider

(そのため)

therefore; for that reason

(きんし)

prohibition / ban

(じちたい)

local government / municipality

(たんとうしゃ)

person in charge

(しつ)

quality

(えらぶ)

To choose; to select

(はなす)

to speak, talk

(いっぽう)

on the other hand / meanwhile

(へる)

to decrease / to diminish

(しんぱい)

worry / concern

(こえ)

voice

did ... (polite past)

Polite past tense of verbs. Formed with verb stem + ました. Used in formal or polite speech to describe completed actions.

is doing, has been doing (ongoing state/action)

Expresses a continuing action or resulting state. Formed with て-form + いる. Can describe an action in progress or a state resulting from a past change.

can do ..., to be able to ...

Verb dictionary form + ことができる expresses ability or possibility. More formal than the potential verb form. Common in written Japanese and announcements.

nominalizer (the act of ~)

Turns a verb phrase into a noun. Here 話を聞くこと (the act of listening to a speech).

want (someone) to do ...

Expresses a wish for someone else to do something. Formed with て-form + ほしい. The person you want to act is marked with に.

isn't it that ～ / perhaps ～

Used in 故障したのではないか to express JR East's tentative guess that the machine may have broken down.

ふるさと納税のルールが変わる

The rules for hometown-tax donations are changing

十月から、ふるさと納税のルールが変わりました。

From October, the rules for furusato nozei (hometown-tax donations) have changed.

ふるさと納税は、自分が住んでいない市や町にお金を送る制度です。

Furusato nozei is a system for sending money to a city or town where you do not live.

送った人は、お礼の品物をもらうことができます。

People who send money can receive goods as a token of thanks.

これまで、インターネットのサイトが、利用者にポイントを配っていました。

Until now, internet sites had been handing out reward points to their users.

しかし国は、ポイントを目当てに寄付をする人が増えたと考えました。

However, the national government concluded that the number of people donating just to get points had increased.

そのため、ポイントを配ることを禁止しました。

For that reason, it banned the handing out of points.

自治体の担当者は「品物の質で選んでほしい」と話しています。

A person in charge at a local government says, "We want people to choose based on the quality of the goods."

一方で、寄付が減るのではないかと心配する声もあります。

On the other hand, there are also voices worrying that donations may fall.