The government submitted a tax reform bill to the Diet Wednesday that includes a clause to continue the special additional higher gasoline and other auto-related taxes — a key bone of contention that the opposition camp plans to confront the ruling bloc over in the current session.
The Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force, has said it intends to submit a bill to abolish the provisional tax rates to lower the price of gasoline amid soaring oil prices.
Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga issued a statement Wednesday stressing the importance of the bill's passage before the end of fiscal 2007 in March. "This is a bill that directly affects the lives of the public," he said. "If the bill is not approved before the end of the fiscal year, it would greatly affect not only revenues but also the lives of the people and economic activity."