Debate over whether to keep for another 10 years the long-standing but provisional extra gas and other auto-related taxes began Tuesday as the Lower House took up the government's tax reform bill.
The extra rates, which Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is determined to maintain, are due to expire at the end of March.
The Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, calls the special taxes "unreasonable" and wants them abolished, which would lower gasoline prices. Lower gas prices could stimulate economic activity in a country whose auto industry has been struggling to sell cars.