Democratic Party: "Yoon's First Economic Crisis Measure Is Corporate Tax Cut? Urgent Need for Household Debt and SME Loan Interest Burden Solutions"

Park Hong-geun "Playing Outdated Buzzwords Without Popularity Again"
Kim Seong-hwan "Common People's Perceived Inflation Rose 20-30%... Buffet Set by Wealthy Tax Cuts Like Corporate Tax Reduction"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The Democratic Party of Korea fiercely criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's economic policy direction, saying it is "off from the very first button" and calling it "MB (Lee Myung-bak administration) Season 2 that ended in failure."

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 16th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the 16th, Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly in the morning, "The first remedy the government and ruling party came up with in the economic crisis situation is deregulation and corporate tax cuts," criticizing, "They repeated a once-popular phrase that has lost its appeal."

Park said, "Since the public is directly hit by soaring prices, stock market crashes, and interest rate hikes, the urgent fire of people's livelihood must be put out first," and pointed out, "The problems of high inflation, high interest rates, and high oil prices are serious, but (corporate tax cuts) are policies biased toward conglomerates and large corporations."

He continued, "It is urgent to analyze the impact of the rapidly falling stock market and the rise in exchange rates and capital outflows due to the interest rate inversion between Korea and the U.S., and to establish interest rate measures, especially measures to address the increased interest burden on household debt, self-employed, and small and medium-sized enterprises."

He said, "If tax revenue decreases due to corporate tax cuts, what budget will be used to support (vulnerable low-income groups)?" and added, "It has been statistically confirmed that corporate tax cuts during the Lee Myung-bak administration had no investment incentive effect. Half of small and medium-sized enterprises cannot pay corporate tax because they have no money, so (corporate tax cuts) provide tax benefits to conglomerates like Samsung." He reiterated his criticism. Then he said, "The diagnosis of the economic situation and policy direction is off from the very first button," and warned, "I hope they do not repeat the incompetent footsteps of the failed MB Season 2 and the Park Geun-hye administration."

Kim Sung-hwan, chairman of the Democratic Party's Policy Committee, also said on the same day, "The consumer price index rose by 5.4% in May, but the actual perceived inflation rose by 20-30%, making it difficult for people to endure day by day," and criticized, "However, (the Yoon administration's) economic policy has no related measures and is set with special tax cuts for conglomerates and large corporations such as corporate tax cuts."

He emphasized, "It may be the president's first time, but there is no rehearsal in state affairs, and the people are not subjects for rehearsal," and urged, "The Yoon administration should revise the economic policy direction that only benefits a few large corporations by changing the packaging."

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