Kwon Seong-dong: "Lee Jae-myung's intention to maintain inheritance tax rates is to gain left-wing votes"

Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying, "His intention is to appease the anger of the middle class over the easing of inheritance tax while maintaining the punitive top tax rate to gain votes from the left-wing support base."

Yonhap News

On the 2nd, Kwon criticized Lee via SNS regarding Lee's stance of advocating for the expansion of the inheritance tax deduction limit while opposing the ruling party's push to lower the top tax rate, saying, "The only purpose of mentioning the easing of inheritance tax at this point is for the election."

Kwon said, "The inheritance tax law amendment bill submitted by the People Power Party and the government last September included lowering the top tax rate from 50% to 40% and expanding the child deduction limit to 500 million won to ease the inheritance tax burden," adding, "The Democratic Party rejected it without proper discussion."

He continued, "If the problem is that the middle class has to sell their homes due to the inheritance tax burden, then the issue of major shareholders having to sell their companies because of high taxes is the same," adding, "Just as it is better to continue living in one's home, it is more beneficial for the country and society for companies to continue management, create jobs, and pay corporate taxes."

He also pointed out, "Our country's inheritance tax is practically at a punitive level. The current top inheritance tax rate for major shareholders reaches up to 60%," adding, "The average top tax rate in countries with inheritance tax is 26%, and the overall average among OECD countries is only 13%."

Kwon argued, "Major advanced countries are reducing the inheritance tax burden to boost economic vitality," adding, "These countries did not lower inheritance tax for 'ultra-wealthy tax cuts.' It was a realistic choice to protect companies and maintain jobs amid global hyper-competition."

He further stated, "It is hard to expect Lee, who committed corruption worth thousands of billions in Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong and ate sushi and fruit with Gyeonggi Province's budget, to truly understand the inheritance tax issue," adding, "If he cannot understand public sentiment at all, I recommend he at least try memorizing it."