The Park Geun-hye government's "better welfare with no new tax" will have to undergo a major overhaul. Even when controversies erupted surrounding the end-of-the-year tax return and the thwarted attempt by the government to raise regional taxes, Cheongwadae (Presidential Palace) Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Ahn Jong-beom reaffirmed his boss's stance since election campaigns, saying, "Higher taxes are never part of the current government's policy intentions and there are so many other ways for welfare to be strengthened."
Still, the President and her aides are being pressed from all fronts. Most prominently, the ruling New Frontier Party's top officials including Kim Moo-sung and Yoo Seung-min have begun their frontal attack on the administration's welfare policy.
Kim Moo-sung said on February 3 in a National Assembly speech, "Welfare without raising taxes is simply an oxymoron. It's not right for the government to keep deceiving people this way." Yoo Seung-min, the party top representative, also remarked in the inauguration speech on the 2nd, "The government must change its policy stance on welfare without tax increase."
Given the top party officials raised objection to the President's key election pledges, it seems inevitable the government changes its course on the policy. A ruling party official commented, "It's either the government cutting back on welfare benefits or raising taxes. There is no other way around it."
To this, Cheongwadae officials angrily responded, "The current government won't seek to either raise tax rates or create new tax items. It's curious why such criticisms come out even while we in the government try hard to increase welfare disbursement by stimulating the economy."
Source: The Korea Economic Daily
