Regarding the tax reform plans including inheritance tax and earned income tax, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, publicly proposed a debate to the People Power Party on the 23rd.
On the same day, Lee posted on Facebook, saying, "Does the People Power Party still cling to tax cuts for the ultra-rich?" and opened fire by stating, "If there is room to cut taxes for the ultra-rich, let's first normalize the unjust increase in earned income tax."
Recently, Lee has advocated for easing inheritance tax by raising the deduction amount from the current 1 billion won to 1.8 billion won by combining the uniform deduction and spouse deduction, along with easing earned income tax.
Targeting the People Power Party, which has emphasized lowering the top inheritance tax rate, Lee criticized, "Privilege tax cuts for a small number of ultra-rich people are unacceptable," and asked, "Why should we cut the inheritance tax by 10 percentage points for ultra-rich heirs inheriting assets worth over 6 billion won? Why should we reduce the inheritance tax by 10 billion won for a 100 billion won asset owner?"
Ahead of the early presidential election phase, by raising the sensitive issue of tax cuts related to people’s livelihoods and the economy, it is interpreted as a strategy to attract the middle-class vote while minimizing the defection of traditional progressive supporters through differentiation from the ruling party.
On the same day, Lee also shared a post titled "Proposal for an inheritance tax debate to Kwon Seong-dong (People Power Party) floor leader," written by Im Gwang-hyun, a fellow party member and former deputy commissioner of the National Tax Service.
Im criticized, "The People Power Party and the government have already raised the limit for business succession deduction to 60 billion won. Where in the world is there a law that allows an individual tax deduction of 60 billion won?"
He continued, "Despite that, the People Power Party wants to cut the top inheritance tax rate again, abolish the major shareholder surcharge entirely, and raise the business succession deduction to 120 billion won," pointing out, "This is a three-piece set of inheritance tax cuts for the ultra-rich that has nothing to do with ordinary people."
Im argued that "Meanwhile, the spouse deduction and uniform deduction, which are important to ordinary people, have remained at 500 million won for 28 years. Now is the time for inheritance tax to protect a typical family’s or middle-class home," supporting the Democratic Party’s proposal to raise the deduction amount to 1.8 billion won.
He then addressed Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, saying, "I propose an inheritance tax debate to Floor Leader Kwon, who is knowledgeable about tax policy from serving on the Finance Committee. I will wait for your response."
On the same day, Democratic Party chief spokesperson Cho Seung-rae also commented, calling the inheritance tax debate "a typical obstruction," and questioned, "Is it normal to block relief for the middle class by cutting taxes for the ultra-rich with assets over 6 billion won?"
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