9 hours ago
Upper House begins discussions on gasoline tax bill
The Upper House began discussions on an opposition-sponsored gasoline tax cut bill on Saturday, a day before the ordinary session of parliament ends Sunday.
The opposition camp is demanding that the bill be put to a vote in the Upper House Committee on Financial Affairs and then in the full chamber by the end of Saturday, with an eye on the upcoming Upper House election, expected to take place on July 20.
However, Junichi Ishii, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's parliamentary affairs chief in the Upper House, told Yoshitaka Saito, his counterpart from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, at a meeting Saturday that the bill does not deserve a vote.
The bill to abolish the provisional gasoline tax rate, effective July 1, was jointly submitted by the CDP and six other opposition parties earlier this month. On Friday, it passed the Lower House, where the LDP-Komeito coalition lacks a majority.
There is little chance that the bill will pass the Upper House, where the ruling coalition holds a majority.
