Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol on the 7th hinted at the possibility of an extension for non-resident single-home owners with exceptions such as illness or job changes, saying, "If there are unavoidable reasons even after three years have passed, we will listen to public opinion and review it again." This marked a reversal of position just four days after negative public sentiment spread over the '2026 Tax Reform Plan' announced on the 3rd of this month, which limited the exception period for non-resident single-home owners to three years. In response to demands for loan easing, Koo expressed an accepting stance, saying, "We sympathize with young people, newlyweds, and homeless ordinary citizens." The government appears to be correcting course only now, after damage to genuine end users came to the surface.
The government should reflect on the "proven failure" of the Moon Jae-in administration, which invited surges in home sales prices, jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent), and monthly rent despite rolling out 26 real estate measures. Insisting on half-baked policies driven by ideology cannot achieve the goal of stabilizing housing for ordinary citizens. Regarding this tax reform plan, even ruling party lawmakers have pressed for complementary measures such as easing taxation on non-resident single-home owners, parallel jeonse and monthly rent measures, and expanded supply. This is proof that the government failed to properly coordinate policy with the ruling party. The government must include effective measures — not rehashed ones — in the third housing supply plan it will soon unveil. If projects stalled by resident opposition, such as the Gwacheon racetrack and Taereung golf course, and private redevelopment and reconstruction projects fail to gain momentum, policy failure is all but certain.
There are numerous cases of policies being announced rashly and then hastily overhauled. The "stock price suppression prevention law," which imposes inheritance and gift tax burdens based on the price-to-book ratio (PBR), was set to be supplemented amid concerns over side effects. Single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which brought the dishonor of a "gambling-den stock market," are also undergoing repeated revisions. Following the Yellow Envelope Act (the revised Trade Union Act), which fuels labor-management conflict, the approach to the revised Criminal Procedure Act that abolished prosecutors' investigative authority is to first implement it and take follow-up action if problems arise.
This is an era in which a single government policy constitutes national competitiveness. If the government, caught up in "policy impatience" to produce immediate results, churns out sloppy policies, the damage falls squarely on the people. If the government and ruling party, mired in the arrogance of "I am right," push policies unilaterally while ignoring the opposition and dissenting views, trouble is bound to follow. The government must not only refine and reinforce the housing policies contained in the tax reform plan — which is drawing a flood of complaints — to fit reality, but also do its utmost to ensure an effective third supply plan.
