Suncheon-si Resident Tax, Citizens Write Directly to Places They Want

Gwangju-Jeonnam's First Full Refund of Resident Tax Personal Equal Share, Supporting Resident Autonomy Activities

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City (Mayor Heo Seok) announced on the 3rd that it will start a resident tax return project from this year.

Suncheon City has continuously made efforts to strengthen the foundation of grassroots village democracy.

Following the promotion of 8 pilot resident autonomy committees in August 2019, this year, the city is implementing resident autonomy committees in all 24 eup, myeon, and dong districts and promoting the resident tax return project in these districts.

The resident tax return means using the amount equivalent to the resident tax collected from residents as funds for village autonomy projects in the respective eup, myeon, and dong districts.

The scale amounts to about 1 billion KRW, which is the full amount of the resident tax individual equalization portion collected last year.

From this month, local residents can directly propose projects needed for their villages centered on the eup, myeon, and dong resident autonomy committees.

The proposed projects will be shared with residents through the eup, myeon, and dong resident general meetings, and projects that gain consensus will be organized as resident tax return projects and actively promoted next year.

A Suncheon City official said, “Through the resident tax return, residents have secured funds to directly select and execute projects.” He added, “This is a new attempt that strengthens the status of Suncheon as a city of direct democracy by enhancing citizens' participation and decision-making power in the eup, myeon, and dong project processes.”