'Corporate Tax' vs 'Noranbongtu Law'... The Life-or-Death Legislative Battle Between Ruling and Opposition Parties

The Curtain Rises on the Yoon Administration's First Regular National Assembly
100-Day Budget Legislation War

Han Byung-do, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is questioning about the issue of relocating the Presidential Office at the 1st plenary meeting of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts held at the National Assembly on the 1st./Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Naju-seok] The first regular session of the National Assembly under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration opened on the 1st. The ruling party plans to make the tax rate reduction, the backbone of economic revitalization, its key legislative agenda, while the opposition party will counter with the pro-labor union bill known as the ‘Yellow Envelope Act,’ engaging in a ‘war without gunfire’ in the National Assembly. However, given the ‘minority ruling party’ situation and the unprecedented leadership vacuum in the ruling party, difficulties in the bill review process are inevitable.

The core bill for the People Power Party’s tax rate reduction is the ‘Corporate Tax Act.’ It aims to cut the top corporate tax rate from 25% to 22% and simplify the tax brackets from four to two (three for small and medium enterprises), which is one of President Yoon’s major pledges. The government also announced in the July tax reform plan that it would pursue a corporate tax rate cut.

A People Power Party official said, "Discussions related to corporate tax cuts are expected to mainly focus on election pledges." Kwon Seong-dong, the floor leader of the People Power Party, also presided over a floor strategy meeting ahead of the opening of the regular session and stated, "The regular session is an important time to strongly support the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s national agenda, overcome the livelihood and economic crisis, and lay the foundation for South Korea’s leap forward."

On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Korea defines the ruling party’s tax cuts as ‘tax cuts for the rich’ and plans to respond accordingly while focusing on pro-labor and pro-citizen bills. Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the floor strategy meeting, "We have selected urgent bills that will help more vulnerable citizens such as small business owners, farmers, and the elderly," and added, "We will urge the government to improve the lives of the people." The Democratic Party decided at a workshop the day before to prioritize the ‘Yellow Envelope Act,’ which limits lawsuits and provisional seizures for strike damages. They also plan to focus efforts on passing the Basic Pension Expansion Act, which abolishes the couple reduction in the basic pension and raises the basic pension to 400,000 won, and the ‘Rice Price Normalization Act,’ which mandates market isolation in case of rice overproduction.

The National Assembly will hold the opening ceremony of the 400th regular session in the plenary hall this afternoon and begin a 100-day schedule. On the 14th, the Democratic Party will deliver the floor leader’s representative speech, followed by the People Power Party on the 15th. From the 19th to the 22nd, there will be interpellations, and from the 4th to the 24th of next month, the National Assembly will conduct audits of government administration.

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