I respect the warrant system. That is precisely why we, as a nation, should discuss the transparency of its operation, the review of its necessity, and ex-post verification as legislative issues.
The Reiwa Era Inspection Procedures Optimization Project Proposed by the Union with No Membership Fees
Federation of Tokyo Metropolitan Youth Unions
April 22, 2026
The Global Union (National Tax Union) today officially launched a policy proposal project to discuss the optimization of National Tax Agency seizure warrant operations as a legislative agenda. From the standpoint of respecting the warrant system itself, this project proposes an innovative system design to guarantee, through legislation, the transparency, necessity review, and ex-post verification of the National Tax Agency's operations after a warrant is issued.
Starting point—Issuing a warrant is not a free pass for operations.
Search warrants are issued after a strict review, based on the judge's exclusive authority to issue warrants under Articles 218 et seq. of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Our association deeply respects this warrant system itself as the cornerstone of a modern rule-of-law state.
However, there is an issue that must be raised to society at large here. That is, the extremely fundamental question of whether the issuance of a warrant means an "unconditional free pass" for the subsequent overall operations of the National Tax Agency.
The judge examines the necessity and proportionality at the time the warrant is issued. However, the subsequent execution of the warrant—how seized items are actually handled by the National Tax Agency, whether questioning and inspection are actually conducted, and whether continued detention is still necessary—falls outside the scope of the warrant review. In other words, current law lacks a system for continuously verifying the propriety of the National Tax Agency's operations after the warrant has been issued.
Emerging operational challenges — realities society at large should confront
As a legislative fact of this project, we will frankly organize the following operational challenges of the National Tax Agency that have become apparent in recent years.
Assignment 1: Continued catheterization with zero question checks for two years
Even after two years have passed since the seizure, a practice exists where no specific examination or questioning regarding the seized items has ever been conducted. The necessity of seizure should be recognized on the premise that the seized items are expected to be utilized as evidence for factual determination; however, the fact that no questioning has occurred for two years means that the necessity claimed at the time of seizure has not been fulfilled in reality.
For example, if an item such as a business card case is detained for over two years, and no questioning or inspection related to that item is conducted during that time, where does the concrete necessity for continued detention lie? Is it only at the Kumamoto Regional Taxation Bureau that analyses unique to the item, such as fingerprint examination, digital information analysis, or document scrutiny, are being performed? Or is it simply that the confiscated item has been lost, and it is being kept in storage to conceal this fact? Society in general has no means of verifying the true circumstances.
Assignment 2: The Legality of the "We'll return it if you come to explain" Policy
The Mamizuka memo actually contains a statement from former inspector Nobuhiro Kawaguchi to a taxpayer who requested the return of seized property, to the effect of "If you want it back, come and explain."
This raises an extremely significant legal issue. Namely, the return of seized property is an administrative disposition that should be judged independently when the necessity for continued seizure ceases, and it should not be linked to a separate matter such as whether the taxpayer voluntarily complies with explanations.
The operation of linking return conditions with requests for explanation effectively uses seized items as "hostages" to elicit explanations, deviating from the purpose of seizure envisioned by the warrant system (securing evidence for factual determination). This is a structure where the original intent of the warrant system is overstepped in the on-site operations of the National Tax Agency.
Assignment 3: Custodial Situation on the Day of Seizure and Implications for Arrest Powers
The National Tax Agency does not have the power to arrest under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Arrest is a coercive measure exclusively exercised by judicial police officers such as police and prosecutors, and prosecutors.
Nevertheless, if actions that effectively constitute physical restraint or statements suggesting the possibility of arrest occur on-site at the time of seizure, this would be deemed an operation exceeding the authority of the National Tax Agency. A seizure based on a warrant is a coercive measure that is inherently powerful, and expanding that scope through on-site operations undermines the reliability of the warrant system.
Assignment 4: Comparison with Police Voluntary Investigation Operations
Here, an extremely important point of comparison exists. That is to say, the police, who are the original investigative authorities in criminal procedure, in the case of voluntary investigations,
- We are operating phone inquiries as a standard channel.
- The practice of allowing legal representatives (lawyers) to be present is becoming established.
- The institutionalization of the visualization (audio and video recording) of interrogations is progressing.
In other words, the police, as the primary investigative body, have a track record of flexibly employing various methods in voluntary investigations and developing protocols for protecting rights.
When compared to this, if the National Tax Agency's discretionary investigation operations are lagging in modernization in terms of whether telephone inquiries are standardized, whether agent presence is automatically allowed, and whether visualization is progressing, this is a systemic issue that should be structurally corrected.
Policy Proposal Pillars: Respecting the Warrant System While Legislating to Rectify the National Tax Agency's Operations
This association will present the following legislative proposals for public discussion through this project.
Proposal 1: Regularize the IRS's review of the necessity of continuing seizures
Introduction of a system where the court retrospectively reviews the necessity of continuing seizures after a certain period (e.g., six months) has passed since the seizure by the National Tax Agency. If specific inspection and questioning are not conducted within the said period, the seized items shall be returned in principle. This corrects the structure where the necessity review at the time of issuing a warrant functions as a blanket approval for ongoing operations.
Recommendation 2: Mandate the electronic management of the IRS's chain of custody for seized assets.
Legalization of the obligation to preserve seizure records as electronic records, including item entry/exit history, authorized personnel, and responsible managers. This will technically reduce the risks of misuse (credit cards, etc.), loss, and tampering of seized items.
Proposal 3: Prohibit the linking of IRS refund conditions with demands for explanation
Legislation should explicitly state that the decision to return seized property should be based on the independent criterion of the cessation of the necessity for continued seizure, separate from the taxpayer's voluntary explanations.
Recommendation 4: Legalization of diversification of IRS inquiry and investigation methods
Based on the operational achievements of police voluntary investigations, the National Tax General Law will be amended to stipulate that written, telephone, online, and agent office methods may be flexibly used in tax audits according to the taxpayer's choice.
Recommendation 5: Post-audit system for IRS seizure warrant applications
Introduction of a system to retrospectively evaluate and publicly disclose the appropriateness and operational fairness of institutions that have applied for warrants. This will structurally prevent the abuse of warrant application authority.
The independence of the judiciary will be absolutely respected.
Here, we will clarify the basic stance of this project.
We are convinced that the judiciary should not intervene in the judge's decision to issue a warrant, whether by the legislature, the executive branch, or the public. The independence of the judiciary (Article 76 of the Constitution) is an absolute principle of a modern constitutional state, and what this project proposes is not intervention in the decision to issue a warrant, but rather for the legislature to establish a framework for post-issuance operational review.
In short, the core philosophy of this project is to completely respect the judicial decision of issuing a warrant, and to establish a mechanism through legislation to continuously verify whether the subsequent operations of the National Tax Agency are being carried out appropriately in line with the purpose of the warrant.
Call for Political Candidates - For Those Who Want to Achieve Operational Optimization Through Legislation
This project is seeking political candidates who are willing to address the legislative challenges mentioned above.
There are no eligibility requirements regarding political party, work history, or experience. For those who are convinced, "I want to legislate to optimize the operation of National Tax Agency seizure warrants," the Union Free Union will fully support your challenge through its network of 400,000 members, policy-making support, and media outreach assistance.
Please note that this project is not intended to support any specific political party or candidate. Its purpose is to discover individuals with policy-oriented mindsets and promote open discussion, making it a policy recommendation-oriented initiative.
In conclusion, the reliability of the warrant system can only be protected by optimizing its operation.
The warrant system is the cornerstone of a modern rule-of-law state. That is precisely why the issuance of warrants must not function as a free pass in the on-site operations of the National Tax Service.
Even after two years have passed since seizure by the National Tax Agency, if seized items are not subject to inspection, or if the operational procedures for return conditions and requests for explanation are linked, and if there is a clear divergence from the voluntary investigative practices of the police – these factors will erode public trust in the warrant system itself in the long term.
That is why we will discuss the optimization of the National Tax Service's operations as a legislative issue in order to protect the warrant system. This is the basic stance of this project.
As the world's first union with no membership fees, our union will promote a legislative process for all citizens to participate in, preserving the credibility of the warrant system through operational optimization.
Global Union (National Tax Union)
https://globalunion-grp.org/mikata/u/kokuzeiunion/
