P.M. BRIEFING : Japan Party Foes Unite Against Tax

Japan’s four opposition parties agreed today on a proposal to abolish an unpopular 3% sales tax sponsored by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The agreement by the opposition parties could be the first step in uniting their forces ahead of the next general election, which must take place before next July.

The sales tax, enacted in April, had been cited by voters as the major reason for throwing support behind opposition party candidates in the July upper-house elections, in which the LDP lost its majority in that chamber for the first time since the party was formed in 1955.