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2025-07-30 13:19:01
[Japan's ruling coalition and opposition parties reached an agreement to abolish the temporary gasoline tax] Japan's ruling coalition reached an agreement with four major opposition parties on Wednesday to agree to abolish the temporary gasoline tax as early as this year. After a major election defeat, the ruling coalition succumbed to pressure from the opposition. The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition and the opposition parties issued a joint statement saying that the extraordinary session of the Diet starting on August 1 will discuss the steps needed to abolish the temporary tax. Japan began imposing a temporary gasoline tax in the 1970s as a temporary measure to fund road construction and maintenance. Since 1979, an additional tax of 25.1 yen per liter has been added to the basic gasoline tax of 28.7 yen, with a total tax rate of 53.8 yen per liter. The opposition parties demanded the abolition of this tax rate to help ease the pain of rising inflation on families. After losing the majority in the House of Representatives in October last year, the ruling coalition led by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba suffered a crushing defeat in the Senate election this month, further weakening his grip on power.
