PPP Launches Public Campaign Against Real Estate Tax Reform: 'Socialist "Pinocchio" Taxes'

The People Power Party continued its public campaign today (August 6) against the government's real estate tax reform proposal, denouncing it as "punitive taxation driven by animosity" and a "socialist tax system."

Representative Park Soo-young of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee hosted an expert seminar at the National Assembly Members' Office Building under the theme "Shut Up and Pay Taxes, Which Divide the Public and Squeeze Them Through Taxation." He strongly criticized the tax reform plan, which focuses on raising holding and transaction taxes, stating, "A revolutionary situation is unfolding where the tax system is shifting toward a socialist model."

Park claimed, "During his presidential campaign, President Lee Jae-myung promised multiple times that he would not curb real estate prices through taxes, but the result is an attempt to do just that. This is a 'Pinocchio' tax reform that lies to the public."

He added, "This is 'taxation driven by animosity,' imposing excessive taxes because owners of high-priced homes in areas like Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa do not vote for the Democratic Party. It is also 'socialist taxation' that complicates the tax system to make people rely on the government's benevolence."

Representative Bae Joon-young, the opposition secretary of the Strategy and Finance Committee, criticized, "This is the worst tax reform in history. I can only wonder what the government and the ruling party were reviewing when they came up with such a proposal."

He went on to emphasize, "It is said that those most strongly opposed to this increase in holding taxes are not homeowners in their 50s and 60s, but people in their 30s. This is because it is glaringly obvious that it will drive up jeonse and wolse [lease and monthly rent] prices, leaving young tenants permanently unable to buy homes. We must correct these flawed policies that make life difficult for young, propertyless people through punitive taxation. Together with the public, we will fix what needs to be fixed and block what needs to be blocked."

Five-term Representative Yoon Sang-hyun stated, "A regime that unleashes a tax bomb on senior citizens who have owned real estate for a long time, the middle class living in Mapo, Yongsan, and Seongdong, and ordinary citizens and young people struggling with jeonse and wolse shortages will inevitably face ruin. The People Power Party will swiftly craft sophisticated measures for the victims of this tax reform."

Today's seminar was attended by Kim Woo-cheol, a professor at the University of Seoul; Oh Moon-sung, chairman of the Korea Tax Policy Association; Kim In-man, head of the Kim In-man Real Estate Economic Research Institute; Ko Kwang-yong, head of policy at the Center for Free Enterprise; and Min Dong-hwan, head of the Youth Action for Pension Reform, who voiced concerns over soaring housing prices and worsening jeonse and wolse market distress.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.