Tokyo, July 28 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese suprapartisan council gave up reaching a consensus Monday on a proposed two-year consumption tax cut for food items, leaving a decision up to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. At the day's meeting of a working group under the National Council on Social Security, participating lawmakers discussed the proposal to reduce the consumption tax rate to 1 pct from 8 pct for food products for two years from April 1, 2027. But the ruling side was unable to bridge the gap with opposition parties seeking the early introduction of a cash benefit program, leading the participants to give up efforts to compile a unified view. The working group, headed by Itsunori Onodera, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Tax System, is expected to submit a report containing both the proposed tax cut and the opposition camp's argument to the national council. The government of Takaichi, also president of the LDP, aims to make a formal decision by early August on the tax cut. "We want to submit a bill (on the tax cut) to parliament soon after getting a conclusion of the national council so that people can feel the effects of the reduced tax burden as early as possible," Takaichi said at a press conference Monday. At Monday's meeting, Onodera presented a modified draft of a consensus stipulating that an agreement was not reached on a specific idea regarding a consumption tax cut. The draft includes opinions of each party, he told reporters after the meeting. Onodera apparently hopes to obtain consent to the revised draft from each party at the working group's next meeting Wednesday. The national council brings together the LDP, its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, and six opposition parties. Of the opposition parties, the Centrist Reform Alliance, the Democratic Party for the People and three others have demanded that a viable cash benefit program be introduced at an early time, instead of the two-year consumption tax cut proposed by the ruling side, as a measure to cushion the impact of soaring prices. The demand was included in the modified draft. Takaichi has set cooperation from opposition parties as a condition for implementing the tax reduction. At Monday's press conference, the prime minister said that the ruling and opposition camps share the view that people's burdens need to be reduced as early as possible. A draft presented by Onodera last month called for reducing consumption tax for food items effectively to zero by lowering the tax rate to 1 pct for two years from April 2027 and providing cash benefits equivalent to the amount of revenue from a 1 pct consumption tax rate for food in a makeshift program. It also stipulated that the temporary program would be replaced by a full-fledged cash benefit program linked to income levels in fiscal 2029. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]