Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama received a 4th round of advice from Mr. Uichiro Niwa, Chair of the Decentralization Reform Committee, at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Decentralization Reform Committee had been compiling the advice over four rounds since its establishment in April 2007. This was the final round of advice.

The 4th round of advice sorted issues of local taxation and fiscal policies into immediate challenges and mid- to long-term challenges, and listed recommendations for each category toward rebuilding an ideal system for local taxation and finance.

For the immediate challenges toward the formulation of the budget of fiscal 2010, the advice lists maintenance of the total scale of national tax revenues allocated to local governments and increase of the legal allocation rates; reform of the system of local contributions to national projects; transfer of administrative responsibilities and authorities to the local governments, and securing of necessary financial sources and other means; integration of state subsidies into local tax grants; revision of the provisional tax rates related to automobiles; and launching of substantial discussions between the central government and the local governments. For mid- to long-term challenges, it covers local taxation reform, rationalization of the state subsidy system, national tax revenues allocated to local governments, local government bonds, and ensuring of fiscal discipline.

Upon receiving the advice, Prime Minister Hatoyama stated, "I will take recommendations from this advice in order to achieve regionalism that the current government seeks to realize going forward."