August 2, 2025

The Japanese Communist Party and six other opposition parties on August 1 jointly submitted to the House of Representatives a bill to abolish a provisional gasoline tax.

At present, the provisional tax of about 25 yen per liter is added to the gasoline tax. The opposition parties argue that scrapping the add-on tax can support people’s daily lives having to struggle to cope with high prices, and are calling for the abolition of this provisional tax in November.

The six parties include the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party.

A similar bill was passed through the House of Representatives in the last ordinary session of the Diet but was rejected by the ruling parties because of their majority position in the House of Councillors at the time. As a result, the bill was scrapped.