“We will protect you from rising prices.”

That’s the promise the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) is making to voters in Sunday's Upper House election. We know the price of food and daily necessities such as gasoline and rice continue to rise severely and we hear voters when they say that’s their biggest concern.

How will we fulfill this promise? By supporting the following three policy pillars: 1) a zero-percent consumption tax on food; 2) lowering gasoline and diesel prices; and 3) realizing fair rice prices.

Let’s begin with the zero-percent consumption tax on food. The prices on thousands of items continue to rise while real wages continue to decline. Meanwhile, wage increases to cover price hikes remain a long way off.

Despite a situation in which households are struggling to purchase even daily necessities, the ruling coalition has been unable to come up with effective measures and average citizens are being left behind.

As a former prime minister who implemented the integrated reform of Japan’s social security and tax system, I’ve agonized over the best approach. But based on discussions within our party, the CDP is calling for a zero-percent consumption tax on food products from April next year. The implementation period will initially be one year and it can be extended depending on the economic situation.

Meanwhile, as a short-term measure, until the zero-percent tax is introduced, a flat-rate payment of ¥20,000 per person will be provided this fiscal year. The ultimate goal is to introduce a tax credit with benefits. We believe that this is the most effective system for mitigating the regressive nature of the consumption tax and I have established a task force within our party to proceed with the concrete system design. At the same time, the CDP believes that we must achieve "responsible tax cuts" that clearly indicate the source of revenue. In order to avoid placing a burden on local finances and future generations without relying on deficit bonds, we plan to secure trillions of yen in revenue through the withdrawal of excess funds, utilization of surplus funds from the foreign-exchange special account and the review of special tax measures.

Next is our plan to lower gasoline and diesel prices. The rise in gasoline and diesel prices is an extremely heavy burden for people, especially in rural areas, who cannot live without a car. Therefore, we are calling for the abolition of the provisional gasoline tax surcharge, which was introduced in 1974 to secure road revenue but in 2009 was made a general revenue source.

Even though it lost its initial basis for taxation many years ago, the people have been forced to bear the burden of this “provisional” tax for over 50 years. In the previous Diet, the Lower House passed a bill to abolish the provisional gasoline tax with unanimity, but the bill was rejected in the Upper House due to resistance from the ruling party. The CDP will work to abolish the tax once and for all.

Finally, the CDP will work to lower surging food costs and realize fair rice prices. While the Liberal Democratic Party’s agriculture policies have wavered, rice prices have not stabilized and supply has remained unstable. In order to stabilize rice policy, we will upgrade the income compensation system for individual farmers, which was highly praised during the CDP administration, and create a "food and agriculture payment" that focuses on farmland.

Moreover, in response to the sharp decline in the number of Japanese farmers, we will increase funds for agricultural-employment support by 10 times and promote measures to encourage new farmers, including salaried workers in urban areas.

The CDP has recently achieved great results, such as the amendment of this year’s budget and the pension reform bill to include a plan to raise basic pension benefits. The next step is winning a ruling majority in the Upper House election and then a change in government in the next Lower House election. Many issues were left unresolved in the last Diet session, including political reform and the abolition of corporate and group donations, as well as the introduction of a dual surname system for married couples. We will continue to work vigorously on these issues.

Former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

In the lead-up to the July 20 Upper House election, The Japan Times reached out to the nation’s major political parties requesting an op-ed for our Opinion pages on why this election is so crucial and why their party deserves the citizens’ vote. We are publishing all those who responded.