Lee Hye-hoon "Freeze Official Property Prices for 3 Years to Reduce Citizens' Tax Burden"

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Lee Hye-hoon, People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor primary election. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] "The publicly announced property price affects as many as seven related taxes, and when combined with health insurance premiums, it influences a total of 64 items."

Former People Power Party lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon, who declared her candidacy for Seoul mayor, stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 28th, "I will freeze the individual housing prices determined by local governments for three years."

The publicly announced property price is set annually at the beginning of the year by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for standard houses, but when actual taxes are levied, the individual housing prices determined by Seoul City are used. Freezing these prices would have the effect of freezing taxes. Lee said, "Even if you do nothing, house prices rise and taxes increase, but the rise in publicly announced prices has caused taxes to increase further," adding, "Raising taxes during the COVID-19 situation is unacceptable."

She also presented a plan to completely change the framework of Seoul's real estate policy over the past decade. Lee said, "I will remove all the hurdles for reconstruction and redevelopment set by the late Mayor Park Won-soon," and criticized, "Mayor Park restricted supply for 10 years, causing the cancellation of 260,000 housing units, and the Moon Jae-in administration implemented real estate policies 24 times, which are the causes of the crazy rise in Seoul's housing and jeonse prices."

She plans to quell the 'panic buying' by the 30-40 age group, which is considered a cause of rising Seoul housing prices, through increased supply. She said, "Through deregulation of reconstruction, the increased public contribution portion will be sold to non-homeowner couples at a price covering construction costs plus alpha, excluding land costs," adding, "If they cannot pay a lump sum, it will be sold through 10- or 20-year equity accumulation plans." She also proposed building Seoul Blossom (Youth Tower), a self-sufficient high-rise tower utilizing city-owned land in the city center for youth and single-person households.

Regarding the Seoul mayoral primary and calls for a 'unified opposition primary,' she said the framework of the People Power Party should not be broken. Lee stated, "Destroying the first opposition party, which is a social asset accumulated over decades, is a loss," and added, "Maintaining the People Power Party framework while having Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, join is the cleanest solution, but if that is not possible, it is also good to unify with the candidate selected through the People Power Party primary at the final stage."

She also revealed plans for a dedicated task force to report sexual crimes to prevent the recurrence of power-based sexual crimes by male local government heads. Lee emphasized, "Sexual crimes will not disappear with only the preventive education measures proposed by Seoul City," and said, "I will create a dedicated task force composed solely of female experts in law, medicine, counseling, and personnel, and establish a system where the female mayor receives direct reports."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.