Opposition Criticizes Government Tax Amendment Bill as "Empty Shell"

Government to Announce 2023 Tax Reform Bill on 27th
Democrats Say "Empty Shell Reform... No Sign of Thought"

The Democratic Party of Korea criticized the government's tax law amendment proposal on the 27th, calling it a "hollow amendment."

Kim Min-seok, Policy Committee Chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Kim Min-seok, the chairman of the Democratic Party's Policy Committee, stated in a press release that "this is a hollow amendment that lacks deep consideration on how the government will fundamentally address critical issues such as the demographic crisis and climate crisis facing our society."

Chairman Kim said, "In addition to the severely deteriorated tax revenue situation, it is clear that the country's treasury condition will structurally worsen once the effects of last year's tax cuts for the wealthy, led by the government and ruling party, take full effect next year," adding, "there is no visible effort to strengthen the tax base or secure substantial fiscal soundness."

He continued, "Compared to last year's unprecedented tax cuts for corporations and high-net-worth individuals, this government proposal merely makes a slight show of generosity toward ordinary citizens, small business owners, and youth," and added, "although the types of revisions are diverse, many simply extend the application period of existing systems."

There were also claims that some of the amendments were copied from opposition party members' proposals. Chairman Kim asserted, "Amendments included in the government proposal, such as 'expansion of tax credits for video content production costs' and 'addition of the bioindustry to the tax benefits for national strategic technologies,' are copied from Democratic Party members' proposals."

He further stated, "The Democratic Party of Korea will thoroughly inform the public of the problems with this tax law amendment during the relevant standing committee discussions," and added, "we plan to fiercely contest with the government and ruling party during the legislative process to ultimately derive measures that can further reduce the tax burden on ordinary citizens, the middle class, small business owners, youth, the elderly, and salaried workers."

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