Choo Kyung-ho: "100,000 Won for Low-Income Families Is More Valuable Than 1,000,000 Won for High-Income Families"

"Significant Reduction in Tax Burden for Lower-Middle Income Brackets Due to Income Tax Reform"

Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choo Kyung-ho is attending the government economic question session held at the National Assembly on the 26th, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporters Kwon Haeyoung and Kwon Hyunji] On the 26th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho emphasized that the government's tax reform plan is not a "tax cut for large corporations and the wealthy," responding to criticisms that it is. He stated, "For those who pay less tax, 100,000 or 200,000 won is more precious, while for those with higher income, 1 million or 2 million won is less precious." The point is that the absolute amount of tax reduction for low-income groups being smaller than that for high-income groups cannot be regarded as a tax cut for the wealthy.

Deputy Prime Minister Choo said during the National Assembly's government questioning session that "the income tax system was restructured to significantly reduce the burden on the lower-middle income brackets."

He explained, "Income tax is basically a progressive tax structure, so those in the upper-middle income brackets also receive benefits," adding, "To prevent excessive tax reductions for high-income earners, the earned income deduction amount was reduced for those earning over 120 million won, so that the benefits do not become too large."

Regarding corporate tax, he said, "While corporate tax rates for the higher brackets were slightly lowered, the reduction for small and medium-sized enterprises was made relatively larger."

Deputy Prime Minister Choo emphasized, "The corporate tax system was designed to encourage companies to invest and actively create jobs," and added, "This tax reform plan was prepared with the intention of helping our citizens' real income a little more rather than collecting more taxes from households already facing difficulties."

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