[Anchor]
The National Assembly audit on the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which oversees the country’s economic policies, took place.
The government, ruling party, and opposition party engaged in intense debates over the significant tax revenue shortfall amounting to 30 trillion won this year.
This is reporter Kang Eun-nae.
[Reporter]
Divergent views between the government, ruling party, and opposition party on the economic situation continue.
Choi Eun-seok, a member of the main opposition party, stated, “The internal and external situations facing our economy inherited from the Moon government were really difficult, right? Are we achieving our goal of price stabilization now?”
While Oh Ki-hyung, a member of the ruling party, mentioned, “Most household real incomes are stagnant or negative. Neighborhood shopping districts have dried up. People are angry about this…”
And Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said, “The reason for real income turning negative is that the inflation rate was the highest in decades in Korea.”
Criticism from the opposition about the government’s excessive optimism leading to prolonged domestic economic weakness escalated into a second consecutive year of fierce debates over the tax revenue shortfall responsibility.
Park Hong-geun, a member of the ruling party, criticized, “Only relying on tax cuts for the rich and creating the largest tax revenue shortfall in history will inevitably lead to record levels of national debt, a temporary measure that shifts the burden down the road…”
And Yoon Ho-joong, a member of the ruling party, added, “We need to analyze the reasons for the failure in tax revenue estimation properly. If we cannot uncover them through the National Assembly audit, we should resort to a parliamentary investigation…”
While Deputy Prime Minister Choi feels a heavy sense of responsibility for the tax revenue shortfall, he firmly refuted the suggestion that it was due to tax reduction policies.
Deputy Prime Minister Choi stated, “It is difficult to agree that such a tax shortfall occurred due to tax reduction policies. As for the issuance of government bonds, it ultimately results from accumulated deficits from the past.”
The government mentioned that utilizing surplus funds is a contingency plan to prevent increasing national debt and stated that they will announce supplementary measures for local finances, which are facing a significant blow from the tax revenue shortfall, by the end of the month.
This is Yonhap News TV reporter Kang Eun-nae. ([email protected])
[Video journalist: 000]
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