沈 "Tax-cutting welfare is a fraud, Yoon is lying" vs Yoon "Speaking without any data"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Ki-min Lee, Joo-hee Kang] On the 2nd, Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, and Sim Sang-jung, the candidate of the Justice Party, raised their voices over tax increases to secure funding for welfare policies.

During the social affairs TV debate hosted by the Central Election Broadcasting Debate Committee, Candidate Sim targeted Candidate Yoon, saying, "According to the manifesto, the required funds over five years amount to 266 trillion won, but after underestimations, excluding local government pledge budgets and tax cuts, the total roughly exceeds 400 trillion won." She criticized, "They plan to increase welfare while cutting comprehensive real estate tax and capital gains tax on stocks by 60 trillion won over five years," calling welfare with tax cuts a fraud.

She continued, "During Park Chung-hee's era, there was the 'Jul-Pu-Se' policy (meaning to 'reduce' taxes and government size, 'loosen' unnecessary regulations, and 'establish' law and order), promising to increase welfare, but then free high school education was withdrawn and the basic pension was halved." She added, "Welfare without tax increases is a fiction, and welfare without tax cuts is a fraud." It appears that Candidate Sim mistakenly referred to the Park Geun-hye administration when mentioning Park Chung-hee's era.

She further stated, "If you are a candidate representing the wealthy class's party, responsible politics means asking the wealthy to 'share the pain' during difficult disaster times."

In response, Candidate Yoon said, "If necessary, tax increases and government bond issuance can be done," but countered, "Since our economy is currently in an ultra-low growth era, the principle is to facilitate economic growth so that more welfare funds can be generated."

He also explained, "Regarding welfare spending that must be made, if expenditure restructuring can reduce inefficiencies or cut short-term economic stimulus and temporary budgets, those should be reduced. Also, natural tax revenue increases amount to about 27 trillion won annually." He added, "Combining these, the total amount I have allocated for welfare in my entire pledge is about 266 trillion won."

When Candidate Sim said "That's a lie" during Candidate Yoon's remarks, Yoon raised his voice, saying, "Don't speak without evidence. Either talk with data or don't."

Candidate Sim smiled and retorted, "The candidate should provide the data, why should I?" to which Candidate Yoon pointed out, "You shouldn't say anything without data."

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