President Lee refutes claim that fuel price relief fund increases local fiscal burden

According to Financial News, President Lee Jae Myung flatly rejected claims that the fuel price damage relief fund has increased the fiscal burden on local governments.
On the 5th, President Lee shared a news article on X (formerly Twitter) titled "Of up to 600,000 won for 70% of the people, 1.3 trillion won is local funding... local governments' burden rises" and issued his rebuttal.
President Lee wrote, "The fuel price damage relief fund is paid in full to local residents, with the central government covering 70–80% and local governments 20–30%." He continued, "In this supplementary budget, the amount given to local governments to strengthen their fiscal capacity, called the Local Grant Tax, is 9.7 trillion won, while the share local governments must pay for the relief program is 1.3 trillion won. That means local governments' fiscal capacity increases by 8.4 trillion won."
He then stressed, "So in conclusion, has the local fiscal burden increased or decreased? It has clearly increased. This is basic arithmetic."
President Lee added, "You could criticize this for infringing on local governments' autonomy over how to use their expanded fiscal capacity, but it makes no sense to say their fiscal burden has increased." He went on, "This program is not mandatory, so if local governments do not want to shoulder the 20–30% share, they do not have to participate. However, because the central government covers 70–80% of the payments to local residents, the benefit is so large that there is no reason to refuse. Of course, they may wish the central government would shoulder a bit more of the cost."
cjk@fnnews.com Reporter Choi Jong-geun Reporter