Gas stations hike prices by roughly 30 yen

Thursday 01st May, 01:54 PM JST

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15 Comments

GW at 08:04 AM JST - 1st May

how about upping the damn consumption tax you chicken you know whats! Tax everyone, vehicle owners already pay plenty of penalty taxes, up the damn consumption tax! This shud have started under that twit koizumi but he didnt have the nads & here we sit while the LDP have been twittling their thumbs for a few more years doing squat.

LDP in case ya dont know you have Jpn riding swiftly on the Highway to Hell! Now where have I heard that, sounds familar........
proxy at 09:11 AM JST - 1st May

Lets see...124+25.1=149.1. And they put prices up to 157. It just don't add up.
Alphaape at 09:39 AM JST - 1st May

I know this will draw the ire of the "get of Japan U.S. military" crowd, but this is why I buy gas onbase. I pay $3.40/gal, which would be about 580 yen (at 3.7l/gal).

We are griping here about the price of gas onbase since it is based on the price of gas back in the states. But I will gladly continue to pay $3.40/gal than the prices at the Japanese pumps.
MikeT at 09:50 AM JST - 1st May

Proxy, it does add up, if you add in the extra Y7 cost + consumption tax, rise in the TOCOM gasoline price index over the past month, that wasn't passed on. At 149.1 the gas stations are basically not even covering their costs. At that level the retailer is making less than Y5 a liter margin. Blame OPEC or the commodity speculators, but the Mom and Pop's who have the local gas stand franchise are not getting rich out of this...
LFRAgain at 09:50 AM JST - 1st May

How the avarage Japanese taxpayer can't be livid over this is completely beyond me. This tax is bundled in with the same scam the government pulled on Japan with those damned toll charges on the expressways that were supposed to expire after 30 years. The gasoline tax and the toll charges were supposed to help modernize Japan's infrastructure, which they did. But the bloated government bureaucracy that is supported by these monies can't and won't let go of it. Since the construction company special interest bloc has the entire LDP in their pocket, they have a de facto strangle-hold on the purse strings of the entire Japanese populace. So again, how can the average Japanese not be livid today with this obscene tax? I believe in taxation. Modern societies need it to function. But taxation for no other reason than to satisfy an artificial "demand" for more road construction? That's criminal.
Fair dinkum! at 10:50 AM JST - 1st May

So, if they replace this tax on gas..... A) Does that mean they will fix the pot-hole out front my house, which has been there for over a year? B) Does it mean the highways will get finished and/or repaired? C) Does it mean they'll widen some of the main roads to accommodate pedestrian and bicycle access? D) Or, does it just mean I will be paying an extra 20 bucks a month for gas? Answer: 'D' of course!
nigelboy at 10:56 AM JST - 1st May

Sorry LFR. It appears you're reacting to the over bloated media coverage of the "mis use" of gas tax revenues when in fact, those figures are just a drop in the bucket.

The pros of gasoline tax as well as other auto tax is that it directly correlates to the need for road infracstructure. In other words, the more you drive, the more work is needed to improve/build roads. And I hate to see these revenues being mixed into the general account for it will no doubt create less transparency making it much easier to mis-use the funds.

And no. Among the 29 OECD nations, Japan is ranked 6th lowest in the fuel tax burden rate so I wouldn't necessarily jump to a conclusion that it's "obscene".
presto345 at 11:42 AM JST - 1st May

up the damn consumption tax! This is and has been a very controversial issue. Doing that in a struggling economy does not seem like a great idea. As soon as the incredibly wasteful distribution system has been streamlined and made efficient I would be all for it. 124 yen per liter? In the area I live the lowest prices are over 140 yen. 157 yen is still a bargain compared to what people in the EU have to shell out.
GW at 01:52 PM JST - 1st May

presto

yeah sure its controversial but it has to happen, but at the same time I think food, like meat, fish veggies etc shud be tax free so as not to hurt those most vunerable, & get the sin tax up on the smokes.

Japan can easily survive a well thought out set of consumption tax increases, how about 1% each year for three years with an option of the same to bring it up to 10%. At the same time this insane waste of our taxes has to be reeled in & the beauracracy trimed, right now I am paying a slew of different taxes, all payable to their own separate empires, a lot is double taxation & a lot shud just bundled together in one payment to one empire.

We are in for some pain & soon just ask the seniors, they are all screaming now, but hey they voted in the LDP for decades, its their own damn fault but most dont seem to make the connection
Heda_Madness at 02:14 PM JST - 1st May

GW, I'm assuming you weren't here in 1997 (or whenever it was) when the government increased consumption tax from three to five%? Consumer spending, which was already at a low, stopped. People simply refused to go out and buy something with a 2% mark up.

Increasing consumption tax in Japan should not be taken lightly.
GW at 06:37 PM JST - 1st May

Heda

been here since well before 1997, now like then the economy is just dragging along so an increase will of course have some effect but people will get used to it.

I mean look at gas, forget this recent taqx fiasco, gas has gone way up since Bush started his misadventure in Iraq, but people still drive, by gas, i know I do, sure dont like but we carry on.

Japans finances are in bad shape, lot of chgs of which consumption tax is only one thing needs to be done, but I dont have any hope anything of substance will happen, it will simply continue ot get worse
namabiru4me at 06:42 PM JST - 1st May

People stopped after the consumption tax hike because the went out and made all big purchases just before.

Gas tax...is an animal of modern society, but I agree with many others that they need to make its use more transparent and show the reasons they need the money. Politics worldwide is rampant with corruption; be it lobbyists, special interest groups, or other more direct methods. Government is for the government, not for the people.
Blue_Tiger at 08:12 PM JST - 1st May

And what better time to up the gas prices, and tack on a government surcharge tax than smack-dab in the middle of Golden Week? Think that Fukuda-san and his cronies didn't have this ace waiting up their sleeve? Astounding as it sounds in my ears, and as ubelievable to my eyes that I write this, but I actualyl agree with the DPJ on this one. The LDP and New Komeito cold have waited a week -- what'd've hurt to wait a mere week??? -- to tack on the gas tax again, but, unfortunately all that the Lower-House-governing LDP/NKP could see were 円円円 signs in front of their eyes.

I'm starting to view both of the major parties in Japan in the same way that I'm already viewing the US Presidential Candidates this year: I don't like ANY of them, and none of them'll get my vote on election day. Fukuda is just as gutless, carelss, and stoogy as Abe was. My Lord in Heaven, how I pray that both Japan and the USA would get strong leadership in the upcoming elections.......but I'm not going to hold my breath!!! I agree with Jesse "the former Governor" Ventura: if "None of the Above" were on the ballots, "None of the Above" would win!!!!!
westurn at 11:30 PM JST - 1st May

I don't get it... Japan isn't at war with Iraq ! How come they gotta pay these high prices ? Hmmm, could it be that the war in Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with high oil prices ? Hmmm...
usaexpat at 12:07 AM JST - 2nd May

If we stemmed the waste and fraud in this country we wouldn't need to raise taxes. The problem is that evryone's on the take from top to bottom.