SME Ombudsman "Considering Tax Benefits for Baeknyeon Gage and Baeknyeon Sogongin"

On-site Meeting Held to Address Regulations and Grievances of Small Business Owners in Daejeon and Sejong Areas

Jubong Park, Small and Medium Business Ombudsman (Vice Minister level).
[Photo by Small and Medium Business Ombudsman]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Park Ju-bong, Ombudsman for Small and Medium Enterprises (vice ministerial level), stated on the 10th, "When establishing the plan for selecting exemplary taxpayers next year, we will consider giving preferential treatment to Baeknyeon Gage and Baeknyeon Sogongin."

Ombudsman Park made this remark while receiving suggestions from local small business owners during the 'Small Business Owners On-site Meeting' held in the Daejeon and Sejong areas, together with In Tae-yeon, Secretary for Self-Employment at the Presidential Secretariat, to listen to regulations and difficulties faced by small business owners in the region.

Lee Geun-oh, Chairman of the Daejeon-Sejong Baeknyeon Gage Association, requested, "Most Baeknyeon Gage and Baeknyeon Sogongin are small business owners who faithfully pay their taxes despite low income, so please support preferential benefits when selecting exemplary taxpayers." Ombudsman Park responded, asking for understanding that "the process of gathering various opinions is necessary, so it may take some time."

Considering that Daejeon Metropolitan City is under social distancing level 4, the meeting limited the number of attendees to under 30 upon entry, and was conducted under strict quarantine measures such as temperature checks and mask-wearing.

The meeting held at the Daejeon Youth We Can Center was attended by Ombudsman Park, Secretary In, Cho Bong-hwan, President of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, Gu Beom-rim, Chairman of the National Merchants Federation Daejeon Branch, and 11 representatives of small business owners and associations from the Daejeon and Sejong areas.

Ko Gang-cheol, Director of the Beauty Company Cooperative, requested, "Considering the prolonged COVID-19 situation, which has made it difficult to manage funds such as labor costs and rent, please expand policy fund loan support for small business owners."

Ombudsman Park introduced, "Currently, the Small Enterprise and Market Service supports policy funds with a proxy loan limit of 100 million KRW and a direct loan limit of 200 million KRW for small business owners with more than three years of business experience. Especially, the scale of direct loans has increased by about 400 billion KRW compared to last year, expanding to 1.1 trillion KRW this year, so I hope you can utilize the related system to receive support."

In addition, attendees proposed various field difficulties such as △ adding Baeknyeon Sogongin to the priority purchase targets of public institutions, △ allowing shopping districts to join the traditional market fire mutual aid project, and △ supporting the production of standardized paper bags usable in nationwide markets.

Secretary In Tae-yeon said, "The COVID-19 situation is very severe, and there is great concern that the recovery of the people's economy may be delayed. The government will prioritize quarantine and livelihood, and will promptly promote support for small business owners' damages and compensation for losses." He added, "We will carefully consider the suggestions made today and strive to respond with policies that empower you."

Ombudsman Park emphasized, "The role of the Ombudsman is to identify unreasonable regulations and improve them together with the government. I will do my best to improve regulations on the side of small business owners."

The Small and Medium Enterprises Ombudsman plans to hold 'Small Business Owners On-site Meetings' every month until the end of the year, visiting major hub cities such as Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gwangju, and Busan, following the Dae-gu and Gyeongbuk regions in June and the recent Daejeon and Sejong regions.

On the same day, Ombudsman Park also attended the 'Daejeon-Sejong S.O.S Talk Meeting' held at the Daejeon Trade Center in the afternoon, where he is scheduled to listen to regulatory difficulties of small and medium enterprises such as △ introduction of domestic certification for protective suits, △ permission for consignment issuance of exemption invoices in medical reservation services, and △ improvement of support methods for the distribution project of assistive information and communication devices for the disabled.

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