2006.03.01

2000(Gyo-Tsu)62

Minshu vol. 60, No.2

Judgment on the claim for revocation of the decision to impose the premium for National Health Insurance

Judgment on the case concerning the premium for National Health Insurance administered by cities, towns and villages and Article 84 of the Constitution

Judgment of the Grand Bench, dismissed

Sapporo High Court, Judgment of December 21, 1999

1. While Article 84 of the Constitution extends to the premium for National Health Insurance administered by local authorities, the extent to which the terms of the imposition of the premium should be clearly provided by a local ordinance delegated by Article 81 of the National Health Insurance Act, should be determined by taking into consideration in a comprehensive manner the purpose and the special nature of the National Health Insurance as social insurance, in addition to the level of coercion of its collection. 2. The delegation by the National Health Insurance Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa to the Mayor, allowing him to determine the criteria for the calculation of the total amount to be imposed, which will serve as the basis of the calculation for the insurance premium rate, and allowing him to publicise it by public notice, is not against Article 81 of the National Health Insurance Act, nor is it against Article 84 of the Constitution. 3. The fact that the Mayor of the City of Asahikawa publicised the premium rate after the date of imposition of the premium of each accounting year was not against Article 84 of the Constitution. 4. The fact that the provisions of the National Health Insurance Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa do not exempt those who are constantly in an impoverished state from the premium payment or do not reduce the premium does not exceed the scope of delegation of Article 77 of the Act of National Health Insurance, nor is it against Articles 25 and 14 of the Constitution. (There is a concurring opinion concerning 1 to 3.)

(Conerning 1 to 3) Article 84 of the Constitution, Article 76 of the National Health Insurance Act (before the amendments by Act No.124 of 1997); (Concerning 1) Article 5 of the National Health Insurance Act, Article 79-2 of the National Health Insurance Act (before the amendments by Act No.102 of 2002); (Concerning 1 and 2) Article 81 of the National Health Insurance Act; (Concerning 2) Article 8 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa No.29 of 1994), Article 8 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.41 of 1998), Article 9 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1997), Article 10 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.23 of 2000), Article 11 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1997), Article 12, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.14 of 1995), Article 12, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1996), Article 12, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1997); (Concerning 2 and 3) Article 12, para.3 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959); (Concerning 3) Article 13 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959); (Concerning 4) Articles 14 and 25 of the Constitution, Article 6, item 6 and Article 77 of the National Health Insurance Act, Article 19, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959) Article 76 of the National Health Insurance Act (before the amendments by Act No. 124 of 1997) (Premium) The insurer shall collect the premium from the heads of the household or members of the cooperative in order to cover the cost for the national health insurance business (including the cost of the payment of contribution for the old age welfare, and in relation to the cooperatives designated by the Minister of Health and Welfare in accordance with Article 81-2 para.1 the cost of the payment of contribution, and concerning the cooperatives as provided for in Article 79-15 of the Health Insurance Act, the cost of the payment of the contribution for day employment). However, this does not apply in cases where the national health insurance tax is imposed in accordance with the Local Tax Act. Article 79-2 of the National Health Insurance Act (before the amendments by Act No. 102 of 2002) (penalty for the failure to pay tax) The premium and other payments collected by cities, towns and villages in accordance with the present act shall be the statutory revenue as provided for by Article 231-3, para.3 of the Local Self Government Act (Act No. 67 of 1947). Article 8 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.29 of 1994) (The total amount of the premium to be imposed on the insured of the general category) The total amount of the premium to be imposed on the insured other than those as provided for by Article 8-2 of the National Health Insurance Act (Act No.192 of 1958, hereinafter, "the Act") (hereinafter,"the insured who are retired", "the insured of the general category"respectively) (inclusive of the amount to be reduced in cases where the premium is to be reduced by virtue of Article 17) shall be the amount calculated on the basis of the estimate of the amount as provided for in item 1 deducted by the estimate of the amount as provided for in item 2. (i) the total of the following: a. the cost of the carrying out of the operation of the national health insurance (inclusive of the cost for the business for the payment of the contribution for the Old Age Welfare and the cost of the payment for medical treatment (limited to the insured of the general category), deducted by the amount corresponding to the partial subsidy concerning the payment; b. the cost of payments for specific medical treatments, general medical treatments and advance treatments (limited to the insured of the general category); c. the cost of the payment for the contribution for the medical treatment in accordance with the Old Age Pension Act; d. the cost involving insurance facilities and other National Health Insurance businesses (exclusive of the cost of payments for medical treatment involving the insured who are retired deducted by the amount corresponding to the partial subsidy concerning the payment, and of the cost of payments for specific treatments, general treatments and advance treatments concerning the insured who are retired). (ii) the total of the following: a. the subsidy for the given accounting year in accordance with Articles 69 and 70; b. the adjustment subsidy based upon Article 72 of the Act; c. the transferred amount on the basis of Article 72-3, para.1; d. the subsidy based upon Articles 74 and 75 of the Act; e. the income from the loan based upon the above provisions and other income destined for the cost of National Health Insurance business (exclusive of the transferred amount in accordance with Article 72-2, para.1 and the subsidy for the payment for medical treatment based upon Article 72-4 of the Act). Article 8 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959 before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.41 of 1998) (The total amount of the premium to be imposed on the insured of the general category) The total amount of the premium to be imposed on the insured other than those as provided for by Article 8-2 of the National Health Insurance Act No.192 of 1958, hereinafter, "the Act") (hereinafter, "the insured who are retired", hereinafter, "the insured of the general category"respectively) (inclusive of the amount to be reduced in cases where the premium is to be reduced by virtue of Article 17) shall be the amount calculated on the basis of the estimate of the amount as provided for in item 1 deducted by the estimate of the amount as provided for in item 2. (i) the total of the following: a. the cost of the operation of the national health insurance business (inclusive of the cost of the business for the payment of the contribution for the Old Age Insurance), other than the wages of the employees (hereinafter, "the wages") (in total, hereinafter, "the non-personal expenses") which are listed in Article 1, para,1, item 1, a to d of the Cabinet Order on the Calculation of the State Subsidy from the Budget and the Insurers' Contribution such as the Employees' Insurance (Cabinet Order No.41 of 1959) (hereinafter, "the cost of specific business administration "); b. the cost of the payment for medical treatment (limited to the insured of the general category), deducted by the amount corresponding to the partial subsidy concerning the payment; c. the cost of payment for hospital food, specific medical treatment, medical treatment, home visit care, special medical treatment, transportation and advance treatment (limited to the insured of the general category); d. the cost of the payment for the contribution for the medical treatment in accordance with the Old Age Pension Act; e. the cost involving insurance business and other National Health Insurance business (exclusive of the wages) and non-personal expenses other than the cost of specific business administration.(This does not include payments for medical treatment involving the insured who are retired deducted by the amount corresponding to the partial subsidy concerning the payment, and of the cost of hospital food, specific medical treatment, general medical treatment, home visit care, special medical treatment, transportation and advance medical treatment concerning the insured who are retired.) (ii) the total of the following: a. the subsidy for the given accounting year in accordance with Articles 69 and 70; b. the adjustment subsidy based upon Article 72 of the Act; c. the transferred amount on the basis of Article 72-3, para.1; d. the subsidy based upon Articles 74 and 75 of the Act; e. the income earmarked for the cost of the loan based upon the above provisions and other cost for the National Health Insurance business (exclusive of the transferred amount in accordance with Article 72-2, para.1 and the subsidy for the payment for medical treatment based upon Article 72-4 of the Act). Article 9 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959 before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1997) (The amount of premium involving the insured of the general category) The amount of the premium involving the insured of the general category is the total amount of the income portion, assets portion, and the equal portion of the insured of the general category who is a member of the given household and the equal portion of households (in cases where the insured of the general category belongs to the same household as the insured who is retired, the equal portion of households is calculated on the basis that the given household comprises only insured of the general category). Article 10 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.23 of 2000) (Income portion concerning the insured of the general category) (1) The amount of the income portion as provided for in the preceding provision is the total amount of the income of the insured of the general category (if this includes income from employment, this amount is calculated on the basis of the amount calculated in accordance with Article 28, para. 2 of the Income Tax Act Act (Act No.33, 1965) deducted by 5% of its amount (in cases where 5% exceeds 20,000 yen, 20,000 yen) plus any income from forests and woods minus the total amount of the income after the deduction of tax as provided for by Article 314-2, para.2 of the Act on Local Taxes and the income from forests and woods (hereinafter, "the total amount of income after the basic deduction") (in cases where it is provided for by Article 29-5, para.1, item 4, reserved part, of the Order for Enforcement of the National Health Insurance Act (Cabinet Order No.362 of 1958), the amount is adjusted in accordance with Article 32-7 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the National Health Insurance Act (Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, No.53, 1958) concerning the application of this provision and Article 12). The total amount of income after the basic deduction is then multiplied by the rate of the premium concerning the income portion as provided for in Article 12. (2) Concerning the calculation of the total amount of income or the income from forests and woods as provided for by Article 314-2, para.1 of the Act on Local Taxes, Article 313, para.3, 4, or 5 of this Act are not applicable, nor are the provisions of Article 57, para.1, 3, or 4 of the Income Tax Act applicable. (3) When calculating the total amount of income or income from forests and woods as provided for by Article 314-2, para.1 of the Act on Local taxes in case of para.1 of the present provision, the part on the miscellaneous loss in Article 313, part.9 is not applicable. Article 11 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5, 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1997) (Assets portion concerning the insured of the general category) The amount of the assets portion as provided for in Article 9 is the part of the fixed assets tax imposed on the insured of the general category corresponding to any land and buildings (hereinafter, "the fixed assets tax involving the land and the building") (in cases as provided for by Article 29-5, para.1, item 8, reserved part, concerning this provision and the next provision, the amount after the adjustment by Article 32-7 of the Enforcement Rules of the National Health Insurance Act) owned in the given accounting year, multiplied by the premium rate as provided for by the following provision. Article 12, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.14 of 1995) (Insurance premium rate) The insurance premium rate for the insured of the general category is as follows: (1) Income portion 50/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total amount of the income after the basic deduction (2) Assets portion 11/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total amount of the assets tax involving land and buildings (3) Equal portion of the insured 26/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total number of the insured of the general category on the first day of the given accounting year (4) Equal portion of the households 13/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total number of households to which the insured of the general category belongs on the first day of the given accounting year Article 12, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1996) (Insurance premium rate) The insurance premium rate for the insured of the general category is as follows: (1) Income portion 50/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total amount of the income after the basic deduction (2) Assets portion 10/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total amount of the assets tax involving land and buildings (3) Equal portion of the insured 26/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total number of the insured of the general category on the first day of the given accounting year (4) Equal portion of the households 14/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total number of households to which the insured of the general category belongs on the first day of the given accounting year Article 12, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959; before the amendments by the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.8 of 1997) (Insurance premium rate) The insurance premium rate for the insured of the general category is as follows: (1) Income portion 50/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total amount of the income after the basic deduction (2) Assets portion 3/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total amount of the assets tax involving land and buildings (3) Equal portion of the insured 32/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total number of the insured of the general category on the first day of the given accounting year (4) Equal portion of the households 15/100 of the total amount of the premium to be imposed divided by the total number of households to which the insured of the general category belongs on the first day of the given accounting year Article 12, para.3 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959) (Insurance Premium Rate) (3) The Mayor shall publicise the insurance premium rate as provided for in para.1 promptly once it has been determined. Article 13 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa No.5 of 1959) (The date of imposition) The date of imposition of the premium shall be April 1st. Article 19, para.1 of the Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa on National Health Insurance (Municipal Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa, No.5 of 1959) (Exemption and reduction of the premium) The Mayor may exempt from the payment of the premium or reduce its amount for the persons who fall within one of the following categories and in relation to whom such a measure is regarded to be necessary, upon application by these persons. (1) Those whose lives have become excessively difficult as a result of natural disaster, or those in a similar state; (2) Those whose incomes have significantly decreased in the given accounting year and whose lives have become difficult, or those in a similar state. Article 14 of The Constitution (1) All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin. (2) Peers and peerage shall not be recognized. (3) No privilege shall accompany any award of honor, decoration or any distinction, nor shall any such award be valid beyond the lifetime of the individual who now holds or hereafter may receive it. Article 25 of the Constitution (1) All people shall have the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living. (2) In all spheres of life, the State shall use its endeavors for the promotion and extension of social welfare and security, and of public health. Article 84 of the Constitution No new taxes shall be imposed or existing ones modified except by law or under such conditions as law may prescribe. Article 5 of the National Health Insurance Act (The insured) Those who live in the territory of cities, towns, villages or special wards (hereinafter, "cities, towns, and villages") are the insured of National Health Insurance administered by cities, towns and villages. Article 6, item 6 of the National Health Insurance Act (Exemptions) Despite the preceding provision, those who fall within one of the following shall not be the insured of National Health Insurance. (vi) Those who are members of households which benefit from social security under the Act on Social Security (Act No.144 of 1950) (except those households where social security is suspended) Article 77 of the National Health Insurance Act (Exemption and reduction of the premium) The insurer may exempt from the premium payment, reduce the premium, or suspend the payment for those who have a special reason, in accordance with the Municipal Ordinance or rules. Article 81 of the National Health Insurance Act (Delegation to the Municipal Ordinance or rules) Other than the provisions of the present chapter, matters concerning the amount of the premium, the rate, the date of imposition, the date of payment, any reduction and other matters concerning the imposition and collection of the premium are determined by a Municipal Ordinance or rules, in accordance with the criteria as provided for in the cabinet order.

The present appeal to the Supreme Court shall be dismissed. The cost of the appeal shall be borne by the appellant.

I. Outline of the case 1. This case involves the jokoku appellant, who is the head of the household and has qualified as an insured of the general category of the National Health Insurance system in which the jokoku appellee, the City of Asahikawa (hereinafter, "the City"), is the insurer. The jokoku appellant was charged a premium for National Health Insurance in the 1994, 1995 and 1996 accounting years by the City. He received a notice from the Mayor (hereinafter, "the Mayor") to the effect that he was not entitled to exemption or reduction since there was no ground for exemption or reduction (hereinafter, "the Decision of non-exemption/reduction"). The jokoku appellant brought an action vis a vis the City for the revocation and recognition as void of the decision to impose the premium, and vis a vis the Mayor for the revocation and recognition as void of the decision that the jokoku appellant does not qualify for exemption or reduction. 2. Acts and ordinances Provisions of the National Health Insurance Act (hereinafter, "the Act"), the Act on Local Taxes and the Municipal Ordinance on National Health Insurance of the City of Asahikawa (Ordinance of the City of Asahikawa No.5 of 1959, hereinafter, "the Ordinance") are included in the attached table. (1) The Act is intended to ensure the sound management of national health insurance business and thus contributes to the improvement of social security and national health (Art.1). The insurers are cities, towns, villages and special wards (hereinafter, simply "cities, towns, and villages") (Art.3, para.1), while for those who live in cities, towns, and villages it is mandatory that they join the national health insurance system as an insured (Art.5). The insured are paid in cases of illness, injury, birth or death (Art.2). The system is financed by a premium which is paid by the head of the household of which the insured is a member, or by the national health insurance tax (Art.76), support by the state (Arts.69 and 70), adjustment subsidy (Art.72) and state subsidies (Art.74), subsidies and loans from the prefectures and cities, towns and villages (Art.75), and debit from the general budget of cities, towns and villages (Art.72-2, para.1, Art.72-3, para.1). (2) Cities, towns and villages either collect the premium from the head of the household (Art.76, main text), or impose a national health insurance tax (Art.703-4, para.1) which is earmarked for covering the cost of the national health insurance business. The jokoku appellee, the City, has adopted the system of collecting the premium instead of national health insurance tax. If a person who receives a reminder to pay the premium fails to pay the amount within the designated period, the cities, towns, or villages are empowered to impose penalties in the same way as for a failure to pay local taxes (Art.79-2, Local Self Government Act, Art.231-3, para.3). (3) Art.81 of the Act provides that, in addition to the matters which are accommodated in Chapter Five of the Act, matters such as the amount of the premium, insurance rate, the date of imposition, the date of payment, reduction and other matters concerning the imposition and collection of the premium shall be determined by Municipal Ordinances in accordance with the criteria set by a cabinet order. Accordingly, the jokoku appellee, the City, has enacted the Ordinance in accordance with the cabinet order on the enforcement of the Act on the National Health Insurance. (4) The income and expenditure concerning national health insurance administered by cities, towns and villages must be separated from the general budget of these entities and a special account needs to be set up (Art.10). In the special account of the jokoku appellee for the national health insurance business of the City between 1994 and 1996, the income from the insurance premium constituted one-third of the total income, and the remaining two-thirds was covered by public funds such as subsidies from the state budget and the transfer from the general budget of the City. (5) Article 12, para.1 of the Ordinance provides for the insurance premium rate concerning the insured in the general category as follows: (i) The total amount of the premium to be imposed on the insured of the general category (in cases of reduction as provided for by Article 17 of the Ordinance, the amount to be reduced shall be included) shall be divided into four portions - the income portion, assets portion, equal burden portion, and the number of households portion. (ii) The premium rate shall be the following income ratio, assets ratio, individual equal portion of the insured and the household equal portion: a. income ratio - the total amount of the income portion divided by the total amount of the gross income of the insured of the general category after the basic deduction in the accounting year preceding the date of the imposition; b. assets ratio - the total amount of the assets portion divided by the total amount of fixed assets tax of the insured for the given accounting year; c. individual equal portion of the insured - the total amount of this portion divided by the number of the insured of the general category on the first day of the given accounting year; d. household equal portion - the total amount of this portion divided by the number of households to which the insured of the general category belongs on the first day of the given accounting year. (6) Article 8 of the Ordinance determines the total amount to be imposed as provided in (5) a to be calculated on the basis of the estimated amount provided by item 2 of Art.8 from the amount set out in item 1, and accommodates the amount as provided in item 1 in the attached List 1, and the amount as provided in item 2 in the attached List 2. (7) Article 9 of the Ordinance sets out the amount of the premium imposed on the insured of the general category as the total amount of the income portion (the total amount of the gross income of the insured after the basic deduction in the accounting year preceding the date of the imposition multiplied by the income ratio; Article 10 of the Ordinance), assets portion (the total amount of tax for assets on the land and buildings of the insured for given accounting year, multiplied by the assets ration; Article 11 of the Ordinance), equal individual portion, and the equal household portion. (8) Article 12, para.3 provides that the jokoku appellee, the Mayor, when the insurance rate regarding the insured of a general category has been determined, should publicise this without delay. Accordingly, the jokoku appellee, the Mayor, publicised the insurance premium rates for 1994, 1995, and 1996 involving the insured of a general category on July 4, 1994, May 29, 1995, and May 30, 1996 respectively, after the date of imposition, which was April 1 (Notice of the City of Asahikawa, No.137 of 1994, No120 of 1995, and No.122 of 1996 respectively). II. On items 1 and 2-1 of the jokoku appellant's grounds for the jokoku appeal and item 2 of the grounds for the application for certiorari: 1. The jokoku appellant argues that the criteria for the calculation of the total amount of the premium to be imposed as provided by the Ordinance are unclear and unspecific. He also argues that the fact that the Ordinance does not provide for a rate of insurance and leaves it to a notice is against Article 84 of the Constitution, which provides for the principle of no taxation without law, and is also against Article 81 of the Act. 2. A mandatory payment, regardless of its form, which is imposed by the state or local governments for the purpose of financing the expenditure, on everyone who meets a certain criteria, and is based upon the power to impose taxes, as opposed to being a payment for services, qualifies as tax as provided for in Article 84 of the Constitution. The premium for National Health Insurance administered by cities, towns and villages is different from this in that it is collected as a counter-payment, against the possible insurance payment to the insured. As above, two-thirds of the cost of the national health insurance business of the City is borne by public funds, but this does not mean that the link between the premium payment and the status to receive an insurance payment is severed. National health insurance membership is mandatory and the premium is collected in a compulsory manner because of the purpose and nature of national health insurance in which the insured who are entitled to receive insurance payments should include everyone who may have an insurance incident and the members are mutually to bear the economic loss of individuals emanating from such an incident. Therefore, Article 84 of the Constitution is not directly applicable to the above premium (national health insurance tax is a purpose-bound tax and is collected in exchange for the above service, but since it takes the form of a tax, Article 84 is applicable). 3. However, Article 84 of the Constitution requires that the terms of imposition and the procedure of collection of taxes should be clearly provided by law and in the first place, addresses the ordinance of taxes by law. It can be regarded as a provision which made it clear, in a stricter manner, that the principle that restriction of rights or the imposition of duties requires a statutory basis, is applicable to taxation as well. Therefore, it follows that mandatory public payments other than taxes imposed and collected by the state or local governments also must be properly regulated by law or Municipal Ordinances enacted within the scope of the law. These payments should not be regarded as outside the above legal principle as expressed in this provision merely because they are not taxes as provided by Article 84 of the Constitution. Mandatory payments which are not taxes are also covered by Article 84, if they have similar characteristics to taxes in relation to the level of coercion used in their collection. However, even in such cases, since mandatory payments other than taxes have characteristics both in common and not in common with taxes, and they vary in accordance with the purposes of their imposition and collection, the manner of ordinance of a mandatory payment, such as the extent to which the terms of its imposition should be clearly provided by law or Municipal Ordinance, should therefore be determined by comprehensively taking into account the nature of the mandatory payment, the purpose of its imposition and collection, the level of coercion etc. National Health Insurance administered by cities, towns and villages is based upon mandatory membership and the premium is collected with coercion, thus is similar to tax in terms of the level of coercion of imposition and collection, and therefore, Article 84 should be applicable. On the other hand, the collected premium is only used on expenditures needed for national health insurance business. The extent to which the terms of its imposition and collection should be clearly determined in the Municipal Ordinance, based upon the delegation of Article 81 of the Act, needs to be determined by comprehensively taking into account the purpose and nature of National Health Insurance as part of the social insurance system in addition to the level of coercion. 4.(1) Article 12, para.3 of the Ordinance delegates to the jokoku appellee, the Mayor, the power to determine the insurance rate, and to publicise the rate by way of a notice. According to the Ordinance, once the total amount of the premium to be imposed is set, the premium rate will be automatically determined, so the Ordinance can be understood to have also delegated to the jokoku appellee, the Mayor, the power to determine the total amount to be imposed in accordance with the fixed criteria of calculation. Article 8 of the Ordinance provides that the total amount of the premium to be imposed should be the amount calculated upon the basis of the amount of the estimate as provided in item 1 of this provision deducted by the amount of estimate as provided for in item 2 of the same provision. The estimate in item 1 is the estimate of the total cost needed to run the national health insurance business, and the estimate in item 2 is the total estimated amount of income from the national health insurance business (excluding the premium). The premium for National Health Insurance is collected in order to cover the cost of the national health insurance business (main text of Article 76 of the Act). The total amount of the premium to be imposed is calculated on the basis of a reasonable estimate of the difference between the cost and the income (excluding the premium) of the given accounting year. This amount is borne evenly by all households in accordance with the meaning and purpose of collection of a premium for National Health Insurance based upon the spirit of mutual assistance. The Ordinance is based upon this premise. Items of Article 8 of the Ordinance provide for estimates of cost and income in a clear and detailed manner. Furthermore, Article 8 of the Ordinance does not make the total amount of the premium to be imposed to be the difference between the estimate in item 1 and item 2, but instead, provides that the amount should be "the amount calculated on the basis of the difference". This means that in the light of the meaning and purpose of the collection of the premium, in order even for the amount of the premium which is estimated to remain uncollected to be covered by the income from the premium, in order to calculate the total amount to be imposed, the difference between the above estimate and income is redivided by the estimated rate of collection of the premium. Thus, the above provision cannot be regarded as unclear. As above, the Ordinance clearly determines

JusticeMACHIDA Akira JusticeHAMADA Kunio JusticeYOKOO Kazuko JusticeUEDA Toyozo JusticeTAKII Shigeo JusticeFUJITA Tokiyasu JusticeKAINAKA Tatsuo JusticeIZUMI Tokuji JusticeSHIMADA Niro JusticeSAIGUCHI Chiharu JusticeTSUNO Osamu JusticeIMAI Isao JusticeNAKAGAWA Ryoji JusticeHORIGIME Yukio JusticeFURUTA Yuki