The ruling and opposition parties formally agreed Wednesday to scrap the provisional gasoline tax surcharge on Dec. 31 while putting off by about a year a decision on how to secure stable alternative revenue sources.

The agreement was reached at a meeting of working-level officials from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its new coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party (also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai), the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People, Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party.

The six parties also agreed to scrap the provisional surcharge on the gas oil transaction tax on April 1 next year. The surcharge stands at ¥25.1 ($0.16) per liter for gasoline and ¥17.1 for gas oil.

They aim to pass bills to remove the surcharges during the current extraordinary session of parliament, scheduled to run until Dec. 17.

Abolishing the extra tax rates will be pillars in an envisioned package of measures to tackle inflation.

To make up for the expected revenue drop of about ¥1.5 trillion from the abolition, the six parties will consider cutting government expenditures, scaling down special tax cuts for corporations and raising taxes on high-income earners, with the aim to reach a conclusion by year-end, according to the agreement.

They will also discuss the details of potential stable revenue sources for about a year to prevent the revenue shortfalls from affecting maintenance work and measures to keep roads and related infrastructure up to date.

Meanwhile, as temporary measures until the surcharges are abolished, the subsidies to lower gasoline and gas oil prices will be raised in stages from Nov. 13. Financial aid is expected to reach the same level as the surcharge on Dec. 11 for gasoline and Nov. 27 for gas oil.