Opposition: "Yoon Government's Tax Reform Plan is a 'Tax Cut for the Rich'... Full Response in August Budget Parliament Session"

Kim Seonghwan Criticizes Corporate Tax Issues at Meeting
Emphasizes Promotion of 50% Public Transport Refund System

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Kim Seong-hwan, Chair of the Policy Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, maintained the position that the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's tax reform plan is a "tax cut for the rich" and stated that they will actively respond during the August budget review session of the National Assembly.

On the 2nd, Kim held a press conference at the National Assembly and explained, "Following the economic policy direction of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the tax policy was announced recently, and now the full-scale discussion is beginning. I have asked to bring the bills to be processed in August to review."

He criticized, "The discussion will probably take place during the regular session of the National Assembly. Although they will try to make it look proper, from our perspective, the ruling party and the People Power Party seem to be acting as a complaint channel for a very small number of conglomerates and their owners in Korea. (The Democratic Party) still finds it difficult to agree with the tax cuts for the rich that expand economic polarization in our society and do not help the recent working-class economy. There appear to be many issues not only with raising the corporate tax, capital gains tax exemption thresholds, and comprehensive real estate tax on multiple homeowners but also with expanding the inheritance tax exemption."

He added, "We will comprehensively accept experts' opinions and combine the positions of the members of the Planning and Finance Committee and the Policy Committee to actively respond starting from the August budget review session."

In response to a reporter's question about whether there is room for negotiation, he said, "We judge that it is inappropriate to expand economic inequality in our society or to give more wealth to those who have already accumulated a lot of wealth. Rather, how can the Democratic Party agree to the Ministry of Economy and Finance taking the lead in giving more tax benefits to the privileged class in our society, some conglomerates, and multiple stockholders? There is no compromise on that point."

At the press conference, he also announced plans to promote a "public transportation fare refund system" related to discussions by the Special Committee on Livelihood Economy. Currently, the opposition party emphasizes the need for a policy that refunds 50% of public transportation fares. Kim explained, "We are trying to promote a public transportation fare refund, but it seems that progressive cooperation from the ruling party is necessary. For now, our party is reviewing it internally."

He elaborated, "The current government is promoting increasing tax benefits for public transportation within an income range of 1 million KRW by 40-80%. Since this reduces the taxable base by up to about 1 million KRW, the actual tax benefit is not very large."

He also stated that during the August budget review session, they will discuss the linkage system for delivery unit prices and the abolition of the sunset clause on safe freight charges to make efforts to legislate them as soon as possible.

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