TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s ruling coalition agreed on Wednesday with four major opposition parties to abolish a provisional gasoline tax at the soonest this year, as it gave in to opposition pressure following a major election defeat.
In a joint statement, the Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition and the opposition parties said an extraordinary session of parliament from August 1 would discuss the steps needed to abolish the temporary tax.
Japan introduced the additional gasoline tax in the 1970s as a temporary step to fund road building and maintenance.
Since 1979, the additional figure of 25.1 yen per litre has been added to the base gasoline tax of 28.7 yen, for a total rate of 53.8 yen per litre.
The opposition parties have demanded its removal to help ease the pain of rising inflation on households.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s grip on power has been further weakened by a bruising defeat for his ruling coalition this month in upper house elections after having lost its lower house majority last October.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
