Japan Upper House Panel Votes to Lower Gasoline Tax

Tokyo, Nov. 27 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Councillors Financial Affairs Committee on Thursday unanimously approved legislation to scrap the provisional gasoline tax surcharge of 25.1 yen per liter, effective Dec. 31. The legislation is expected to be passed into law at a plenary meeting of the upper chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Friday. It was passed by the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, on Tuesday. The legislation further specifies that the provisional gas oil delivery tax surcharge of 17.1 yen per liter will be abolished on April 1 next year. Several opposition parties jointly submitted similar legislation to the Diet in August, seeking to eliminate the surcharges in November. After the Nov. 1 deadline, the legislation was collectively revised by six major parties–including the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]