It looks like the senior opposition Civic Democrats (ODS) are betting the fastest way to a voters' hearts is through their stomach.

With the general elections coming up in June, the party has made food taxation part of its economic platform. For months, the ODS has been campaigning on a 15 percent flat tax for value-added, income and corporate taxes. The flat tax would increase food prices, which currently fall under the 5 percent VAT bracket. The other VAT bracket is 19 percent.

In at least a partial about-face, the party announced in mid-February a plan to exempt certain items, most notably food, from the tax hike. Food would either stay in the 5 percent bracket or not be taxed at all, according to the proposal.

"We're preparing a list of items that should fall under a lower VAT bracket than the flat tax, and some food items should be among them," said Vlastimil Tlustý, shadow finance minister. "We're considering putting them under the lowest possible tax or removing them from taxation."

The move would save the average Czech, who spends around 4,000 Kč ($168) a month on food, 2,400 Kč a year.

The ODS proposal comes at a time when the party is facing strong criticism from the ruling Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) that implementing a 15 percent flat tax would raise people's living expenses by bumping food into a higher bracket. To some analysts, exempting food from the tax hike so close to the elections looks like a push to introduce populist policy to win votes.

"As the elections approach, more and more ideas on how to cut taxes are emerging," said Pavel Sobíšek, chief economist at HVB Bank.

The German lesson

Indeed, taxes are becoming a heavy-caliber weapon in the campaigning leading up to the June elections, and polling shows that voters are at best skeptical about a flat tax. According to a study conducted in December by Factum Invenio, a market research agency, only around 25 percent of Czechs support a flat tax and one-third are opposed to it.

The recent parliamentary elections in Germany last September have also shown that a flat tax can be a pivotal issue at election time.

Despite going into the elections with a comfortable lead, the coalition led by Angela Merkel, who is now Germany's chancellor, barely defeated the ruling party of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. At the time, analysts agreed that one of the reasons for the last-minute drop in votes was that people were concerned about the flat tax proposed by Merkel's coalition.

Tlustý has insisted, however, that the new VAT exemption proposal has nothing to do with Czech politics or pressure from the ČSSD, but rather an analysis of tax systems throughout countries in the European Union that include exemptions for various goods.

"I realized that being uniform in a non-uniform system was nonsense," Tlustý said.

If a country wants to have a VAT below 5 percent for certain items, it has to receive an exception approved by all EU member states.

Each proposed exception inspires fierce negotiations, though some countries in the EU have a zero VAT on some goods. In the United Kingdom, for instance, books and baby clothing aren't taxed.

Budgetary suicide

The ODS will be ready to lobby for a bill that includes exemptions to the 15 percent flat tax when it hits Parliament March 7. Chances of pushing it through are low, however, as the ČSSD, which together with its allies holds a majority in Parliament, has spoken out against the food exemption, calling it a pre-election campaign tool that would cost the state billions in tax revenue.

Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, a member of the ČSSD, said eliminating VAT for food would cut budget revenues by around 22 billion Kč (approx. $1 billion) a year. Furthermore, Sobotka said, lowering the current 19 percent VAT to 15 percent would cut the state's income by as much as 50 billion Kč.

"This would be budgetary suicide," he said.