Cho Kuk warns Democratic Party against 'tax cuts for the wealthy'

Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's policy research institute, urged the Lee Jae Myung government and the Democratic Party of Korea to stand with the economically vulnerable, warning against what he called a path of "tax cuts for the wealthy" as the ruling camp moves to ease its tax reform package.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Cho said the "Aug. 3 tax reform package" had already rolled back the threshold for the comprehensive real estate tax — known as "jongbusae" — from a publicly assessed value of 1.2 billion won ($869,000) to 1.4 billion won, equivalent to a market price of around 2 billion won. He estimated that under the new threshold, about 75,800 homes nationwide and about 56,900 in Seoul would be removed from the tax's scope.

Citing data from People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Cho noted that of the roughly 15.98 million homeowners in the country as of last year, only about 3 percent paid the residential portion of the comprehensive real estate tax — and for single-home households, the figure was no more than about 1 percent.

Cho said Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok and the party had gone a step further by proposing to ease the tax burden even for owners of a single home they do not occupy. "If this goes ahead, the share of single-home households paying the comprehensive real estate tax will fall below 1 percent," he said.

"Is the Democratic Party going to do politics for that 1 percent?" he said. "One cannot help but ask whether this is consistent with the Democratic Party's identity."

Cho said a rational tax base for high-value properties must be established, noting that the comprehensive real estate tax has been revised 28 times since its enactment in 2005. "The system can change with the times," he said, "but if these exceptions are being made with an eye on next year's Seoul mayoral election and the 2028 general election, they will come back as a backlash, not votes."

His remarks were a pointed critique of the ruling camp's approach to real estate policy — including housing supply initiatives centered on Yongsan Park — amid signs that public sentiment in the property market is souring. Lawmakers from the Greater Seoul area in particular have grown increasingly vocal about the electoral risks, and the pressure has ultimately pushed the government toward policy revisions.

Cho said the original spirit behind the comprehensive real estate tax, introduced under the Roh Moo-hyun government, was equity. "The purpose was the realization of tax justice itself, not the total fiscal revenue generated by the tax," he said. "But the comprehensive real estate tax is now moving in the exact opposite direction. Discussions on asset taxation, including the financial investment income tax, have also stalled."

He also said the most important elements of any tax system are direction, consistency and credibility. "Only when these principles are paired with sound supply measures can genuine real estate reform become possible," he said.

Addressing Kim and ruling party lawmakers directly, Cho said the Democratic Party was listening only to the voices of the economically powerful. "The Lee Jae Myung government must make it its top priority to represent the voices of asset-poor, low-income, homeless youth and renters," he said.

Meanwhile, at a senior ruling party-government consultative meeting held Sunday — the first since Kim took office as party leader — participants reached a consensus on expanding the scope of recognized actual residency for owners of a single non-occupied home under the tax reform package, and agreed to follow up with concrete measures.

At the meeting, Kim said further deliberation was needed on proposed changes that would adjust the basic deduction for the comprehensive real estate tax for non-resident single-home owners from 1.2 billion won to 900 million won, and raise the tax burden cap to 200 percent.