Lawmaker pushes tax credits for game, music production costs

Cho Seung-rae, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker representing Daejeon's Yuseong-gu A district, said Tuesday he had introduced a bill to amend the Restriction of Special Taxation Act to extend tax credits to production costs for games and music content.

Current law structures tax support primarily around video content such as broadcast programs and films. Although webtoons were added to the list of eligible categories last year, the game and music industries — which account for a large share of South Korea's global exports — remain excluded from the support system.

Cho raised the issue at last year's national audit, pressing the Ministry of Economy and Finance over what he called a gap in tax support for "the core industries driving K-content exports." The relevant provision was dropped during the legislative process and the bill was scrapped without being enacted, leaving the gap unaddressed.

Commenting on the new bill, Cho said games and music are "core industries that have already proven Korea's cultural competitiveness to the world," adding that "the system is still stuck in the industrial structure of the past." He said the tax support framework must be updated to match the status of these star export sectors, and that passing the amendment would "restore the growth ladder for the K-content industry as a whole and help secure global competitiveness for game and music content."