diff --git a/node.c b/node.c
index 9521238e38..79ef00f1b7 100644
--- a/node.c
+++ b/node.c
@@ -321,7 +321,6 @@ rb_ast_t *
 rb_ast_new(rb_parser_config_t *config)
 {
     node_buffer_t *nb = rb_node_buffer_new(config);
-    config->counter++;
     return config->ast_new((VALUE)nb);
 }
 #else
diff --git a/parse.y b/parse.y
index 23ca4c8ddc..6ebb237181 100644
--- a/parse.y
+++ b/parse.y
@@ -15970,7 +15970,6 @@ rb_ruby_parser_allocate(rb_parser_config_t *config)
     /* parser_initialize expects fields to be set to 0 */
     rb_parser_t *p = (rb_parser_t *)config->calloc(1, sizeof(rb_parser_t));
     p->config = config;
-    p->config->counter++;
     return p;
 }
 
diff --git a/ruby_parser.c b/ruby_parser.c
index 9f9b680646..47dc54df6c 100644
--- a/ruby_parser.c
+++ b/ruby_parser.c
@@ -618,8 +618,6 @@ extern VALUE rb_mRubyVMFrozenCore;
 VALUE rb_node_case_when_optimizable_literal(const NODE *const node);
 
 rb_parser_config_t rb_global_parser_config = (rb_parser_config_t) {
-    .counter = 0,
-
     .malloc = ruby_xmalloc,
     .calloc = ruby_xcalloc,
     .realloc = ruby_xrealloc,
diff --git a/rubyparser.h b/rubyparser.h
index e78df79e7a..974a03992c 100644
--- a/rubyparser.h
+++ b/rubyparser.h
@@ -1194,14 +1194,6 @@ typedef struct rb_imemo_tmpbuf_struct rb_imemo_tmpbuf_t;
 
 #ifdef UNIVERSAL_PARSER
 typedef struct rb_parser_config_struct {
-    /*
-     * Reference counter.
-     *   This is needed because both parser and ast refer
-     *   same config pointer.
-     *   We can remove this, once decuple parser and ast from Ruby GC.
-     */
-    int counter;
-
     /* Memory */
     void *(*malloc)(size_t size);
     void *(*calloc)(size_t number, size_t size);