Lee Jae-myung: "Why reduce inheritance tax by 10 billion won for a 100 billion won asset owner?"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, publicly questioned Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, asking, "Why should the inheritance tax of a 100 billion won asset owner be reduced by as much as 10 billion won?"

On the 22nd, Lee posted on Facebook a message titled "Hundreds of billions, thousands of billions holders are commoners? The far-right rebellion party lies again." He began by saying, "The Democratic Party exempts inheritance tax up to a taxable base of 1.8 billion won so that even owners of an average house do not have to sell their home and leave due to inheritance tax when they pass away." He then criticized, "However, the People Power Party, with its 'ultra-rich tax cut instinct,' proposes lowering the top inheritance tax rate from 50% to 40%, and Floor Leader Kwon Seong-dong shows a stance that there will be no increase in deductions without lowering the top rate, saying that lowering the top rate is also necessary to ease the burden on commoners."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

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Lee explained, "The top tax rate of 50% applies to taxable bases over 3 billion won," adding, "After subtracting the deduction limit of 1.8 billion won, only those with a taxable base over 4.8 billion won, which is over 6 billion won in market value (assuming an 80% discrepancy rate), benefit." Then, he posed three public questions to Floor Leader Kwon. First, he asked why the inheritance tax for ultra-rich individuals with market values over 6 billion won should be cut by 10 percentage points, questioning, "Why should the inheritance tax of a 100 billion won asset owner be reduced by as much as 10 billion won?" Secondly, he asked, "Are those inheriting hundreds of billions or thousands of billions over 6 billion won really commoners?" Lastly, he said, "If you cannot lower the 50% top tax rate, do you intend to refuse the basic deduction as well?" and questioned, "The top rate cut for the ultra-rich and deduction expansion for the middle class are unrelated, so why use a linked strategy?" The linked strategy (連環計) refers to the 35th stratagem among the Thirty-Six Stratagems in military tactics, literally meaning "connecting multiple strategies so the opponent cannot accurately grasp your intentions."

Finally, Lee concluded his post by saying, "I hope you come to your senses and engage in politics for the people," adding, "That is the way for the People Power Party to survive."

Recently, Lee has expressed his opinions several times regarding the inheritance tax reform. On the 15th, he also posted on Facebook titled "Inheritance tax reform, which is right?" comparing the ruling and opposition parties' claims on inheritance tax reform plans. He emphasized, "I will ensure that the majority of the people can benefit, so they do not have to sell their homes and leave because of taxes, and can live in the homes filled with family affection."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is pushing a bill at the party level to raise the uniform deduction amount for inheritance tax and the minimum amount for spouse inheritance deduction. The core of this bill is to increase the uniform deduction amount for inheritance tax from the current 500 million won to 800 million won, and the minimum amount for spouse inheritance deduction from the current 500 million won to 1 billion won.

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