Opposition: “Property Tax Rebellion Show Ends After Just Four Days... A Political Stunt for the General Election”

[Financial News] After the presidential office said there was “no reason for the principles to waver” amid discord between the ruling party and the presidential office over easing the comprehensive real estate tax deduction for owners of a single home who do not live in it, People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig criticized the move, saying, “The Democratic Party’s property tax rebellion show ended after a four-day reign,” and calling it “the inevitable conclusion of a political stunt for the general election.”
At a floor leadership strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 13th, Jeong said, “Party leader Kim Min-seok said yesterday (the 12th) on the Democratic Party’s YouTube channel that it would be best to consistently uphold the fundamentals of the real estate policies being pursued by the party and government.” He added, “Just four days after the ruling party asked the government at the Senior Party-Government Council on the 8th to set the comprehensive real estate tax deduction for all single-home owners at 1.4 billion won in assessed value, regardless of whether they live in the home, the party has backed down.”
Jeong said, “It was reported that President Lee Jae Myung stressed at the recent dinner that the party and government must act with one heart and one mind. But this is coercive pressure to make the party stop voicing a different position on the comprehensive real estate tax.” He added, “It is simply pitiful to see the puppet party leader picked by Myung unable to utter a peep in front of a president who uses force to silence dissent.”
He continued, “The tax deduction was only a small tip of the enormous iceberg that is the Lee Jae Myung administration’s failed real estate policy. What the ruling party should demand of the government is a wholesale shift in the direction of its real estate policy.” He said, “The government must be made to change its approach to tightening actual-residency requirements under the land transaction permit system, its policy of tightening restrictions on jeonse loans, and its lukewarm stance toward revitalizing reconstruction and redevelopment.”
Jeong said, “Without addressing the substance of excessive restrictions such as stricter actual-residency requirements, making a show of rebellion over just one part of the tax reform package—the comprehensive real estate tax deduction—is an insincere political stunt for the general election, all smoke and mirrors.” He warned, “They will face stern judgment from taxpayers for turning the taxes paid by the public into a prop for an election-year political stunt.”
He also said, “I call on the Lee Jae Myung administration. The public does not care whether the party and government are at odds.” He added, “I hope you will put forward measures to overcome the painful reality of a jeonse and monthly-rent crisis, with jeonse listings drying up and monthly rents soaring.”
Policy committee chair Im Lee-ja said, “According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the cumulative increase in jeonse prices in the Seoul metropolitan area this year was 7.22%, more than five times the rate last year, while average monthly rent for apartments in Seoul surged by more than 15% in a year, topping 1.66 million won a month.” She added, “Heavy-handed loan restrictions and punitive tax policies have fueled a freeze in rental listings, resulting in a jeonse and monthly-rent crisis that is difficult for ordinary people without homes to bear.”
Im said, “The economic policies of the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party are misguided: they turn away from market principles and try to control every problem through regulation and taxes.” She added, “The tax reform package should be withdrawn in full, and real estate policy should be redrafted from scratch.”
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter