Choo Kyung-ho: "Supplementary Budget Must Be Cut by at Least 2 Trillion Won... No Hasty Election Cash Handouts"

"Demand for Significant Cuts to Wasteful Tax-Funded Job Programs"
Funding Should Be Secured Through Main Budget Expenditure Restructuring

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] There has been a claim that at least 2 trillion won should be cut from the supplementary budget (추경) submitted by the government to the National Assembly for the payment of the 4th disaster relief fund. It is pointed out that many 'cash handout' projects, hastily created without assessing and analyzing the damage, were included in the supplementary budget as the government aimed to distribute the disaster relief fund before the April 7 by-elections.

On the 12th, Chu Kyung-ho, a member of the People Power Party and the secretary of the National Assembly Budget and Accounts Special Committee, said in a press conference after analyzing the supplementary budget, "Although details should be specified, I will approach this with the stance of cutting the entire 2.1 trillion won allocated for job projects." He explained, "This supplementary budget is, in short, a hastily prepared cash handout budget for election purposes, a total failure, as well as a statistical manipulation and employment hope torture budget that pushes young people into short-term part-time jobs."

Looking at the supplementary budget announced that day, most job projects were simple part-time jobs without employment linkage conditions or were already job postings by companies. For example, the Ministry of Environment allocated 115.2 billion won for the separated waste collection helper project, which hires a total of 10,000 part-time helpers (8,000 for apartment complexes, 2,000 for detached houses, etc.) for simple separated waste collection guidance and promotion. Despite the mandatory separated PET bottle collection in apartment complexes, this is seen as creating forced jobs.

In the case of the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Youth Digital Job Project, which was allocated 561.1 billion won, the execution rate of last year's supplementary budget was only 32.9%, and the execution rate of this year's main budget of 467.6 billion won as of the end of February was only 3.6%. According to Representative Chu, despite being a typical underperforming project, this supplementary budget added 561.1 billion won more than the main budget, greatly expanding it to a total of 1.0287 trillion won including the main budget. He said, "It is a typical statistical manipulation job project that is only fancily packaged with the words 'youth' and 'digital.'"

Regarding the Small Business Support Fund Plus project, for which the Ministry of SMEs and Startups allocated 6.735 trillion won, it was analyzed that the support plan should be prepared based on the National Tax Service's VAT filing data, which will be finalized in early April, but it was ultimately included in this supplementary budget due to election considerations. Representative Chu said, "It is a representative example of a sloppy and poor support standard that solar power operators, whose sales decreased solely due to the reduction in electricity sales prices and have nothing to do with COVID-19 damage, are included as beneficiaries of the Support Fund Plus."

Representative Chu emphasized that the People Power Party will strive to reinforce support for small business damages and resolve blind spots during the supplementary budget review process. He said, "We demand a significant cut in tax-wasting job projects that are hastily created for statistical manipulation and lack effectiveness," adding, "The government should promptly submit a restructuring plan for the 558 trillion won main budget expenditure structure and not become a bad government that burdens young people with debt."