Park Wan-joo "Yoon's 'Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Exemption' Targets 0.19% of Total... Not Appropriate for Resolving Polarization"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 16th, Park Wan-joo, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, saying that only 0.19% of the entire population would be eligible for the 'comprehensive real estate tax (종부세) exemption for single-homeowners' promised in his pledge, and that "(Yoon's pledge to abolish the 종부세) is really inappropriate in terms of resolving polarization issues."

Park Wan-joo, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Policy Coordination Meeting held at the National Assembly on the 11th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the same day, Chairman Park held a press briefing at the National Assembly main building in the morning and said, "The 종부세 is a holding tax, and the capital gains tax is a transaction tax. The Democratic Party's basic stance is to raise holding taxes and lower transaction taxes," adding, "The 종부세 functions to correct income distribution and asset disparity."

Chairman Park explained, "There are a total of 800,000 people who pay the 종부세, of which 94,000 are single-homeowners in one household." He continued, "That is 0.19% of the total 52 million people in the country," and questioned, "Yoon says he will exempt the 종부세 for single-homeowners, which amounts to about 130 billion won. Is this something to make a fuss about?"

He also asked, "A significant portion of the population lives in rental apartments, so are we going to exempt the 종부세 for 94,000 single-homeowners again?"

Earlier, on the 14th, Yoon stated on Facebook, "If I become president, I will fully review the 종부세," and "In the mid-to-long term, I will consider integrating the 종부세 into the property tax or exempting single-homeowners."

Chairman Park emphasized, "Considering the increase in publicly announced land prices, the 종부세 threshold was adjusted from 900 million won to 1.1 billion won through bipartisan agreement," and added, "Currently, the 종부세 already provides exemptions for single-homeowners who are elderly over 65 years old and those who have held their property for a long time."

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