Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition on Thursday unveiled a fiscal 2017 tax reform plan that seeks to expand controversial spousal tax breaks as part of its latest push to draw more women into the nation's dwindling workforce.

The plan also dictated heavier levies on high-income households, as well as addressing long-standing calls from overseas, particularly Europe, for Japan to broaden its narrow definition of what constitutes beer.

Abe's government is expected to rubber-stamp the proposal and submit the necessary amendments to the ordinary Diet session slated to kick off in early January. The proposal represents the first of a series of efforts to be implemented by the government over the next several years to bring Japan's income tax system up to date.