與 "Correct Next Year's Budget Overspending" vs 野 "Nation's Treasury Emptied... Government Incompetence Confirmed"

Cabinet Meeting Held to Finalize Next Year's Budget
Ruling Party: "Will Not Repeat Fiscal Populism"
Opposition: "Tax Revenue Decline Due to Economic Policy Failure and Tax Cuts"

Regarding the government’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which was released on the 29th, the ruling party welcomed it as reflecting a commitment to sound fiscal management, while the opposition harshly criticized it as confirming the government’s incompetence. The opposition pointed out that despite forecasts of economic growth next year, the projected tax revenue for next year is lower than this year’s, criticizing that the revenue base has been undermined.

Kang Min-guk, the senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, introduced the 2024 budget, which was passed through the Cabinet meeting that day, saying, “It reflects the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s firm determination for sound fiscal management, correcting the damage caused by the reckless, indiscriminate spending budgets of the past five years under the Moon administration.” Kang said, “In just five years, the national debt increased by nearly 400 trillion won, but the patchwork remedy called ‘fiscal omnipotence’ only worsened the economic situation, and above all, this debt was entirely passed on to future generations.” He added, “Despite the upcoming general election, the Yoon administration will not repeat fiscal populism that eats away at future generations.”

He stated, “We boldly excluded the habitual issuance of government bonds and budget expansion practiced by past administrations and aimed to strengthen the Korean economy and prepare a responsible budget for future generations.” He continued, “By cutting the politically wasteful subsidies budget and the vested interest cartel budget, we have carried out expenditure restructuring amounting to as much as 23 trillion won. The budget secured this way will be used for essential welfare for the vulnerable, national defense and rule of law, and job creation, ensuring that precious taxpayers’ money returns fully to the people.”

Regarding the budget policy, Kang explained, “We will increase the minimum livelihood allowance beyond the scale of increases over the past five years of the previous government, expand the budget and allowances for senior citizen jobs, and move toward ‘substantial welfare’ rather than ‘welfare in words only.’ Along with a police organization reform focused on public safety and related budget allocations, we will do our best to protect the safety and lives of the people.” He also emphasized budgets for flood response system maintenance, improvement of military personnel treatment and veterans’ compensation increases, expanded contributions to the international community, job creation and securing growth engines, and a safety monitoring system budget for Japan’s contaminated water discharge. He said, “The People Power Party will approach the budget review with the goals of ‘sound fiscal management for future generations’ and ‘people’s livelihood budget.’”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the other hand, the Democratic Party harshly criticized, saying, “The government is depleting the treasury income, not keeping the promised fiscal rules, and is effectively reducing future-oriented investments and livelihood project budgets, revealing the government’s incompetence, irresponsibility, and inertia.” Kim Min-seok, the Democratic Party’s Policy Committee chairman, and Kang Hoon-sik, the Democratic Party’s secretary for the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, stated in a press release that day, “In next year’s budget proposal, income is decreasing, depleting the national treasury, but efforts by the government to replenish the fiscal coffers are hard to find, clearly exposing the government’s incompetence.”

They pointed out, “This year’s national tax revenue is 400.5 trillion won in the government budget, but a tax revenue shortfall of more than 40 trillion won is expected. The government’s next year’s national tax revenue estimate is 367.4 trillion won, which is 33.1 trillion won less than this year’s budget.” They added, “Although the government forecasts a 4.9% nominal growth rate next year (according to the July 2023 Economic Policy Direction) and expects the Korean economy to grow in 2024, the significant decrease in tax revenue this year and next year can only be seen as a result of the government’s economic policy failure and the undermining of the revenue base due to large-scale tax cuts.”

There was also criticism that the government and ruling party themselves failed to uphold the fiscal rules they set. The Democratic Party said, “The government is pushing for legislation to keep the fiscal deficit within 3% of GDP when the national debt ratio is below 60%, but the government showed an irresponsible attitude by failing to keep the fiscal rules it promised in next year’s budget proposal.” They pointed out, “The fiscal deficit in next year’s budget is expected to reach 92 trillion won, about 100 trillion won in scale, which is -3.9% of GDP.”

Specifically, they mentioned the cut in the research and development (R&D) budget, calling it “a very shortsighted and regressive investment.”

Regarding the review of next year’s budget, they said, “We will approach the National Assembly’s budget review to transform the budget proposal, which reveals the government’s incompetence, irresponsibility, and inertia, into a budget where the state takes responsibility for the people and offers hope.”

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