Park Dae-chul "Financial Investment Tax Causes Anxiety for 14 Million Retail Investors... If So-Called Agreement Fails, Hold a Plenary Session"

Park Dae-chul, Chairman of the National Assembly Budget and Accounts Committee. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Kwon Hyun-ji] Park Dae-chul, chairman of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the People Power Party, expressed concerns about the financial investment income tax (Geumtu Tax) being pushed by the opposition party. Amid disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties that have prevented the formation of the Planning and Finance Subcommittee, he also stated that if no agreement is reached by today, they are considering holding a plenary session to review the budget.

On the 16th, after a meeting with ruling party finance committee members at the National Assembly, Chairman Park told reporters, "Although the tax is said to target 150,000 people, in reality, it is a concern for 14 million individual investors."

The People Power Party and the government hold the position that the Geumtu Tax should be postponed for two more years, while the Democratic Party insists that the tax should be implemented as scheduled starting next year. Despite Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung expressing the need for a postponement, Shin Dong-geun, the opposition party's finance committee floor leader, reaffirmed the stance against delaying the tax.

Chairman Park expressed concern, saying, "The stock market is depressed, and considering the aftereffects and various negative impacts, I think postponement is appropriate now. I got the impression that Leader Lee also supports postponement, saying it should be carefully reviewed, but hearing the Democratic Party floor leader say otherwise again is somewhat disconcerting."

Currently, the Planning and Finance Committee has not formed even a subcommittee for budget review due to unresolved differences between the two parties regarding subcommittee composition. Chairman Park said, "There is no disagreement between the two parties on the People Power Party chairing the Tax Subcommittee and the Democratic Party chairing the Economic and Fiscal Subcommittee. However, regarding the Budget Subcommittee, the Democratic Party wants to take full charge for the remaining period, while the People Power Party proposed a 50-50 split but suggested the Democratic Party take the lead first. We even proposed withdrawing the People Power Party's intention to take the latter half and leaving it for future negotiation, but we have yet to receive a response from the Democratic Party."

He added, "The new budget review deadline is June 2, and all standing committees and the Budget and Accounts Committee procedures must be completed by June 30. To do so, budget-related bills must be processed quickly, and if the subcommittee issue is not resolved today, we may need to consider reviewing the budget and related bills in a plenary session."

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