Song Young-gil: "Why Obsess Over 1 Trillion Won in Real Estate Taxes... General Consensus Is Not to Touch It"

Song Young-gil, a candidate for the leadership of the Democratic Party, criticized rival candidate Chung Chung-rae's diagnosis that the drop in President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating was due to the "defection of the core support base," calling it a "quack doctor's prescription."

Appearing on a KBS radio show today, Song stated, "The diagnosis is wrong," and made the remarks.

He pointed to real estate and stock market issues as the causes of President Lee's declining approval ratings.

"There may be some loss from the core support base, but the crux of the matter is the mishandling of real estate," he said, explaining, "The drop in stock prices right now is due to leveraged ETFs (exchange-traded funds)."

Regarding the government's real estate tax reform plan, Song pointed out, "The general argument is not to touch real estate taxes," adding, "Why must they cap the long-term holding special deduction at 1 billion won and restrict it only to those who actually resided there?"

He went on to ask, "For single-home households, comprehensive real estate taxes and capital gains taxes amount to only 1 trillion won. With 50 trillion won in additional tax revenue, why are they risking everything over 1 trillion won?"

Addressing Chung's camp's remark that "if Song Young-gil pushes someone, they are bound to lose," Song fired back, "It's not because I pushed someone who would win, but because I pushed candidates who were in tough races but were right. I want to ask Chung, who nominated Kim Yong-nam in Pyeongtaek and served as his campaign treasurer, why he lost."

Regarding his cumulative voter turnout of 9.47% over the past two weeks of regional primaries, Song emphasized his determination to complete the race, saying, "I expect to get more votes in South Jeolla Province and Gwangju, and I will do my best moving forward in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province."

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