'Not a flip-flop or surrender,' floor leader says in rebuffing opposition criticism
Party, government and administration working more closely than ever, lame-duck claims 'absurd,' Han says
Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Han Byung-do said Thursday that the government's revision to its tax reform package was "a rational outcome reached after the ruling party and government carefully deliberated on the opinions of the public and markets." Han pushed back against the People Power Party, which had criticized the revision — made less than a month after the original plan was announced — as a "policy U-turn," saying it reflected the public's voice in policy.
Speaking at a policy coordination meeting at the National Assembly that day, Han said "the budget and tax system are the state's core tools for supporting people's lives and designing the future of the Republic of Korea," and that the party would "listen to the people's voices to improve the quality of the budget and tax system."
On the revised tax reform proposal, Han said "a rational plan has been drawn up that maintains the benefit of raising the basic deduction for owner-occupied single-homeowners from 1.2 billion won ($876,000) to 1.4 billion won, while keeping the current 1.2 billion won basic deduction for non-resident single-homeowners."
On revisions to the individual savings account, or ISA, framework, Han said the party "withdrew the contract period restriction and the plan to double the contribution limit, and allowed young people to hold both a youth ISA and a youth future savings account simultaneously, more fully serving the asset-building needs of young people, ordinary citizens and retail investors."
On measures to prevent "share price suppression" not included in the revised package, Han said the party would "draw up effective measures during the regular National Assembly session based on inheritance and gift tax amendment bills introduced by our party's lawmakers."
Responding to the People Power Party's characterization of the revision as "a U-turn in 29 days," Han rebuffed the criticism, saying he wanted to ask the PPP "how listening to the people's voices and reflecting them in policy can be called a flip-flop or a surrender." He added that while "the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the People Power Party may have ignored the public and pushed their policies through to the end, the Lee Jae Myung government and the Democratic Party do not work that way."
Han also took aim at claims from some within the People Power Party that the ruling party and government were experiencing a lame-duck period. He called the assertion "utterly groundless" and "a preposterous, forced argument aimed at undermining the government's policy momentum."
Han went on to say that "the party, government and administration are working in closer coordination than at any other time," adding that "it would be the leadership of PPP Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok — surviving on unprecedented punitive politics and silencing tactics while leaning solely on far-right politics — that better fits the word lame-duck."
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