[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung mentioned the real estate tax reform package announced yesterday (the 3rd), pointing out the issue of fairness with earned income. He also pushed back against criticisms that granting a phased application of heavy capital gains taxes for multiple home-owners amounts to opening an exit route and lacks policy consistency.

Reporter Kang Min-u has the details.

[Reporter]

President Lee pointed out that while the effective top tax rate on earned income reaches 49.5%, real estate capital gains taxes fall far short of that, effectively protecting real estate speculation rather than housing protection.

[President Lee Jae-myung: Right now, even if capital gains from real estate reach the tens of billions of won, the tax is only a few hundred million won, right? Making tens of millions through investments while paying almost no taxes lacks all equity compared to the earned income of workers.]

He also actively rebutted criticisms over the heavy capital gains tax on multiple homeowners—which was revived last May—being relaxed into a phased implementation after just three months.

[President Lee Jae-myung: There were criticisms like, are we giving opportunities to multiple homeowners, are we effectively extending it, and does it lack policy consistency? But that is actually not true.]

He explained that heavy taxation was not completely abolished, but rather lowered temporarily and raised in phases to open a two-year exit route.

Immediately after returning home yesterday, President Lee presided over a review meeting regarding the real estate and stock markets that lasted for over seven hours, focusing intensive discussions on swift real estate supply measures.

Reviewing the status of new housing site developments including the Taereung Golf Course in Seoul, as well as the Gwacheon Racecourse and Defense Security Command sites, President Lee ordered Prime Minister Han Sung-sook and ministers of related ministries to comprehensively reexamine supply measures.

The issue of single-stock leverage ETFs, cited as a cause of stock market volatility, was also discussed. A Cheong Wa Dae official stated, "Rather than structural issues with ETFs, it overlaps with domestic investor tendencies and liquidity," adding, "Opinions emerged that promotional efforts might be more necessary than institutional improvements."

(Video by Jeong Sang-bo, Ha Ryung | Video Editing by Lee Seung-jin, Graphics by Kang Yoon-jung)