Japan Lower House Passes Bill to Scrap Add-On Gasoline Tax

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, on Tuesday passed legislation to scrap the provisional gasoline tax surcharge of 25.1 yen per liter, effective Dec. 31. The legislation, adopted at a Lower House plenary meeting, also states that the provisional gas oil delivery tax surcharge of 17.1 yen per liter will be abolished April 1 next year. The legislation, which will be sent to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, is expected to be enacted as early as this month. In August, opposition parties jointly submitted the legislation to the Lower House, proposing the abolition of the surcharges in November. After the Nov. 1 deadline, the legislation was revised by six major parties–the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People, Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party. The revised legislation includes a supplementary provision that the government will examine measures to secure stable funding sources to cover an expected tax revenue drop of 1.5 trillion yen per year and reach a conclusion within about one year after the promulgation. Taking into consideration concerns about revenue drops among local governments, the legislation says that appropriate measures will be taken to prevent the abolition from causing any disruption to local government services. Ahead of the year-end abolition of the gasoline tax surcharge, the government is increasing subsidies to oil wholesalers in stages to prevent sharp fluctuations in retail gasoline prices. The subsidies will reach 25.1 yen per liter Dec. 11, matching the surcharge. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]