Park Wan-joo "Considering Reduction of Capital Gains Tax for Multiple Homeowners"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The Democratic Party of Korea announced on the 30th that it is considering measures to reduce capital gains tax for multi-homeowners.

On the same day, Park Wan-joo, the chairman of the Policy Committee, responded to a question about reducing capital gains tax for multi-homeowners at a press briefing held at the National Assembly in the morning, saying, "We are not excluding it and are reviewing it." Regarding the calls within the Democratic Party to ease capital gains tax, he said, "It is a personal opinion," but added, "There is a strong public sentiment that people want to sell their houses because of high property taxes but cannot put them on the market due to taxes."

He continued, "We are collecting such opinions from the field," and said, "If the capital gains tax relief bill passes the plenary session, wouldn't it send a message to the market?"

Earlier, in July, the Democratic Party decided to raise the capital gains tax exemption threshold for single-homeowners from 900 million won to 1.2 billion won. However, the bill's passage had been delayed amid criticism within the party that it was a tax cut for the wealthy, but it is expected to be swiftly passed in the upcoming National Assembly plenary session. The National Assembly's Taxation Committee held a subcommittee on the 28th and processed the amendment to the Income Tax Act reflecting this.

Meanwhile, Chairman Park said that the 50 trillion won in loss compensation for small business owners proposed by Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party candidate, would be difficult to include in next year's budget.

Chairman Park said, "We are doing our best to prioritize small business owners and include it in next year's budget," but added, "The amount already cut is 24 trillion won, and even with additional cuts, it is difficult to exceed 5 trillion won. It is impossible to include 50 trillion won solely for loss compensation in next year's budget."

On the other hand, regarding local currency, he said, "The planned issuance level of 21 trillion won this year is fully achievable." He explained, "Although the opposition party issued a statement against it, there has been a demand of about 28 trillion won for local currency next year from the field," and considering this year's excess tax revenue, securing a budget of more than 21 trillion won for local currency would not be difficult.