Photo/Illutration Representatives of seven opposition parties submit a bill to cut the gasoline tax to the Lower House on Aug. 1. (Takeshi Iwashita)

The seven leading opposition parties jointly submitted a bill to the Lower House on Aug. 1 to abolish an unpopular provisional add-on gasoline tax rate.

Coming on the day an extraordinary session of the Diet was convened, it signaled their pledge to voters to start shaking things up following the upset for the Liberal Democratic Party in the July 20 Upper House election.

The parties are aiming for the bill to be enacted during the autumn extraordinary Diet session following discussions with the minority coalition headed by embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The opposition parties on board are: the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan; Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party); the Democratic Party for the People; the Japanese Communist Party; Sanseito; the Conservative Party of Japan; and the Social Democratic Party.

Kazuhiko Shigetoku of the CDP said, “We hope to receive full cooperation from the government in working toward smooth implementation of this bill.”

The gasoline tax includes an additional provisional tax per liter of 25.10 yen, roughly 17 U.S. cents.

The bill calls for the additional tax to be scrapped on Nov. 1.

To mitigate the impact of this sudden change, the opposition parties have proposed a gradual reduction through subsidies.

Later on Aug. 1, the first working-level discussions kicked off between the ruling and opposition parties. Issues to be discussed were expected to include funding sources, distribution logistics and the impact on local government finances.

The seven opposition parties jointly submitted the bill earlier this year during the regular Diet session. Although it passed in the Lower House, where the ruling party no longer has a majority, LDP lawmakers in the upper chamber refused to proceed to a vote, resulting in the bill’s failure.

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