Opposition Demands Korea Scrap Remaining Tax Hikes, Republish Revenue Estimates

The main opposition People Power Party urged the government to withdraw the tax increases still left in its 2026 tax code overhaul and to publish recalculated revenue estimates, after the government revised parts of the plan.

People Power Party lawmakers on the National Assembly's Finance and Economic Planning Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 1st and laid out four demands regarding the government bill approved at that day's Cabinet meeting. They called for the release of recalculated revenue effects and tax burden incidence data reflecting the revisions, the submission to the National Assembly of public comments received during the public notice period along with how they were handled, the withdrawal of the plan to raise the fair market value ratio, and a final government position on provisions left undecided.

Rep. Bae Joon-young, the party's floor manager on the committee, said the government "amended seven items 29 days after the Aug. 3 announcement when it finalized the government bill at today's Cabinet meeting," but added sharply, "It is fortunate that it made changes even belatedly, but the job was left half done."

He focused in particular on the fact that the government restored only the deduction amount and the tax rate cap, while keeping intact the increase in the fair market value ratio that raises the tax base. "What was reversed is only the deduction amount and the rate cap, the parts most visible to the public," Bae said. "The fair market value ratio, which is what actually determines the tax, remains untouched."

He said the ratio "rises from 60% to 70% in 2027, and to 80% in 2028 for owners of three or more homes and for homes in designated speculation zones," adding, "Even if the deduction stays at 1.2 billion won, taxes go up once the tax base itself grows."

The party also demanded that the revenue effects be recalculated and disclosed following the revisions. "On Aug. 3 the government said the overhaul would increase revenue by 3.443 trillion won, of which 2.1815 trillion won would come from the comprehensive real estate holding tax," Bae said. "That is 63% of the entire tax increase, and if the government partly reversed the holding tax today, that number has to change."

He continued, "Yet nowhere in the materials the government released today is there a recalculated revenue effect," adding that the 4.6831 trillion won listed as "other" in the tax burden incidence table "is still lumped together — an amount larger than the total tax increase, and the government has not even disclosed who pays it."

He also noted that only 3.1% of the public comments received during the public notice period were in favor. "A total of 17,248 public comments were received, of which 534, or 3.1%, were in favor, while 6,857 were opposed — 13 times the number in favor," Bae said. "The comprehensive real estate holding tax law drew 9,372 comments, with an approval rate of 2.03%."

"Even with these numbers in hand, the government touched only seven items and is sending the rest to the National Assembly unchanged," he said. "A design that was wrong once cannot be right in all the remaining parts. If the government overturned itself in a month, the rest needs to be reviewed from the start as well."