War in Iran and the resulting impacts on energy markets have intensified debate about Australia’s gas exports and how much money is, or is not, raised from those exports. While Australian debate on taxation of gas features both input from Japanese leaders and regular international comparisons (comparisons with Norway and Qatar are particularly common), one obvious comparison is rarely made – Japan itself. This report aims to fill this gap with a basic introduction to Japan’s Petroleum and Coal Tax.

Key findings

• Australia raises more public revenue from both student loans and beer excise than it does from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). 
• Japan has imposed a tax on oil and gas imports since 1978, expanding the tax to cover coal in 2003.
• Over the last five years, Japan’s energy import tax has delivered an average of AUD $8 billion per year to the Japanese Government.
• On average, every year, $1.8 billion of Japan’s energy import tax comes from gas imports, substantially more than the $1.4 billion raised by the Australian Government’s PRRT.