Japan's imperial family paid 3.3 billion yen in property tax in 1947, and in 1989 the new emperor paid 428 million yen in inheritance tax while the regalia passed tax-free

In October 1945 the Imperial Household Ministry reported the imperial family's property, excluding art, jewels and gold, at 1.59 billion yen in cash, securities, land, buildings and timber. The occupation's economic staff called it "quasi-public" property, not a private family holding. On 18 November 1945 the occupation froze all transactions in imperial property. The assessed value rose with inflation and the addition of art, jewels and bullion to 3.747 billion yen. The imperial house paid 3.343 billion yen under the Property Tax Law of November 1946. Article 88 of the new constitution made the rest state property. Emperor Hirohito died on 7 January 1989. About 600 items, including the three regalia and the palace sanctuaries, were "things of lineage to be passed down with the throne" and exempt from inheritance tax. About 3,180 works of art and imperial objects were given to the state. The taxable estate was 1.869 billion yen, split between his son Akihito and his widow, Empress Kōjun, about 934.5 million yen each. The empress paid nothing under the spousal deduction. Akihito paid about 428 million yen. It was the first time an emperor had paid such a tax, and on 14 June 1989 a Diet member called it unsuited to the imperial house. In 2017 a special law exempted the regalia from gift tax at Akihito's abdication.