[Anchor]

A sharp debate took place today (July 8) at a forum between the Minister of Planning and Budget and the Minister of Education.

The point of contention was how to utilize the excess tax revenue expected from the semiconductor boom. Reporter Jo Yoon-ha explains the conflicting arguments.

[Reporter]

At a forum on the reform of local education grants held at the Government Complex Seoul, the two ministers appeared as panelists and actively expressed their positions.

[Choi Gyo-jin / Minister of Education: It is very concerning that the discussion is proceeding based solely on unilateral economic logic or numerical efficiency, such as the idea that the budget should be cut simply because the number of children is decreasing.]

[Park Hong-keun / Minister of Planning and Budget: Are we not seeing various problems in the field caused by the rigidity of the current linkage structure? We are not looking only at the decline in the number of students...]

The key figure is 20.79%.

Current law mandates that 20.79% of internal tax revenue, excluding customs duties, collected by the government must be allocated to local offices of education.

This provision was established in 1972, when the population was rapidly increasing, to secure stable education financing. These education grants are used for teacher salaries, school operating expenses including meal costs, and school facility improvements.

Even if the percentage remains the same, the amount of the grant increases as internal tax revenue grows.

As the school-age population has declined while the scale of the economy has grown, the grant per student has increased from 6.23 million won 10 years ago to 13.71 million won last year.

On top of this, an unprecedented amount of excess tax revenue is expected this year due to the semiconductor boom.

The education grant set for this year is 76.4 trillion won, but depending on the semiconductor tax surplus, the grant could easily exceed 80 trillion won and approach 100 trillion won.

Therefore, the fiscal authorities argue that the method of unconditionally allocating 20.79% should be revised for efficient fiscal management. Meanwhile, the education authorities are pushing back, arguing that there are many areas requiring budget, such as AI education, and expressing concerns that the total amount might eventually be reduced, thus insisting on maintaining the current linkage system.

Previously, the Democratic Party, the government, and the Blue House stated that they reached a consensus on using the additional tax revenue for future generations, South Korea's growth engines, and addressing polarization.

As significant budget is also required for three mega-projects, including the Honam semiconductor base, there is a possibility that the education grant system will be reformed.

(Video reporting: Jo Chun-dong, Video editing: Lee So-young)