"Financial Investment Tax Abolition, Late but Fortunate... Legislative Process to Conclude This Month"

Choo Kyung-ho "Retail Investors Oscillate Between Heaven and Hell"
Kim Sang-hoon "Fortunate Bold Decision to Revitalize Stocks"

The People Power Party announced on the 5th that it intends to complete the National Assembly legislative process to abolish the Financial Investment Income Tax (Fin-Invest Tax) within this month.

On the same day, Choo Kyung-ho, the floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly, "The controversy over the Fin-Invest Tax, which troubled 14 million retail investors throughout the year, is expected to be resolved during the regular session of the National Assembly," adding, "While Lee Jae-myung, the party leader, showed inconsistent behavior by holding livelihoods hostage, over ten million retail investors experienced heaven and hell. It is late, but fortunately so."

Chu Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the party's strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 5th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

The Fin-Invest Tax is a system that imposes a 20% tax on the excess amount of income over 50 million KRW per year earned from financial investments such as stocks, bonds, and funds. The Democratic Party, which had been wavering between abolition, support, and opposition, settled on abolishing the tax after Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader, expressed his intention to abolish it the day before.

Floor leader Choo said, "We will negotiate with the Democratic Party to promptly complete the National Assembly legislative process for the abolition of the Fin-Invest Tax," and added, "The People Power Party will also strengthen policy efforts to enhance the value of the capital market for the formation of citizens' assets and the revitalization of corporate vitality." Furthermore, he suggested uniting efforts on pension reform and medical reform as well.

Kim Sang-hoon, chairman of the Policy Committee, also welcomed the Democratic Party's stance on abolishing the Fin-Invest Tax at the meeting, saying, "It was a truly fortunate bold decision to revitalize the domestic stock market, which has been trapped in the 2,000-point box for 15 years."

However, Chairman Kim expressed a critical view on the shareholder fiduciary duty under the Commercial Act, which the Democratic Party is currently promoting. He pointed out, "The shareholder fiduciary duty under the Commercial Act contains a significant logical contradiction," and said, "It is a logical contradiction to impose fiduciary duty regulations for the interests of shareholders with different interests, such as foreign investors, institutional investors, and minority shareholders." He added, "If it is for value-up, I would like to say that we will seek wise alternatives together with the opposition party."

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