President Lee Orders Review of Tax Benefits for Long-Term Investment by Ordinary Shareholders

At Cabinet Meeting, President Orders Measures to Encourage Long-Term Investment
Praises National Tax Service for Managing Delinquent Taxes
Tells Large Corporations, "You Are Doing Very Well These Days"

President Lee Jaemyung has requested a review of measures to provide tax benefits to ordinary investors in order to encourage long-term stock investments.

Yonhap News Agency

During a Cabinet meeting held at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on November 11, President Lee asked Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yooncheol, "Does our country provide sufficient benefits to long-term investors?" When Deputy Prime Minister Koo responded, "Not nearly enough," President Lee instructed, "Please conduct a detailed review of ways to provide long-term investment benefits to ordinary investors."

He cautioned that providing benefits to major shareholders could spark controversy over tax cuts for the wealthy, emphasizing that benefits should be extended to ordinary investors. President Lee said, "Major shareholders already hold shares to secure management rights, and giving them benefits could lead to criticism about tax breaks for the rich. We need to separate them from ordinary investors."

President Lee also praised the National Tax Service for its effective management of non-tax revenues. He stated, "It seems the agency is working very hard these days in managing non-tax revenues and related areas. From the perspective of tax justice, not only non-tax revenues but also the management of tax delinquencies must be thorough. This work is also quite helpful for job creation." His remarks are seen as referring to the National Tax Service's recent establishment and operation of a special task force to track down major tax delinquents, as the amount of unpaid national taxes has exceeded 110 trillion won.

Additionally, President Lee assessed that large domestic corporations are also fulfilling their roles well. He said, "Large corporations and export companies are the biggest beneficiaries of national policies, and they are performing very well. Issues such as technology theft from small and medium-sized enterprises have significantly decreased."

However, he emphasized, "There are cases where monopoly or oligopoly positions are abused to seek unfair profits. These are like 'nui' in rice, and they must be removed." 'Nui' refers to unhulled grains of rice mixed in with the rest. He continued, "Please pay special attention to ensure that unfair pressure such as technology theft is not exerted on small and medium-sized enterprises. Strictly prevent any exploitation of the powerless for unjust gains."

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